Latest news with #AmericanTruckingAssociation
Miami Herald
23-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Huge trucking company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The continuing saga of U.S. trucking and logistics industry financial distress has not ended, as more shipping companies have filed for bankruptcy protection this year, seeking to restructure their debts. Confidence that the trucking industry would improve in 2025 was led by an American Trucking Association annual freight forecast in January that projected truck volumes would grow this year by 1.6%. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter That ambitious prediction came after the trucking sector reported a net loss of about 10,000 carriers in the first half of 2024, according to and about 88,000 trucking companies and 8,000 freight brokerage firms ceased operating in 2023, Freight Caviar data revealed. Related: Another major trucking company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy Freight demand, however, faced an unseasonal decline in April 2025, "likely presaging further deterioration in the coming months," according to an April 23 State of the Industry Report, produced by Ryder and FreightWaves. The truckload market experienced a significant slowdown, and the intermodal sector is on a steep decline and will likely dip below 2024 levels by the end of April, the report said. The decline is unseasonal, since the beginning of the second quarter usually sees demand slowly ramp up in anticipation of summer inventories and produce deliveries, according to the report. It is likely that truckload volumes will only fall further from this point forward, the report said, as import bookings have fallen off a cliff in recent weeks, which will first impact drayage markets and intermodal demand before showing up in truckload volume data. Several trucking companies have already declared bankruptcy this year, including AZA Transportation Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 14 to reorganize its business. The Mount Prospect, Ill., trucking and freight transportation company filed its Subchapter V petition, listing $100,000 to $500,000 in assets and $500,000 to $1 million in liabilities. The company's creditors include merchant cash advance lenders, equipment finance companies for their trucks, fuel vendors, and tollway authorities. Transportation and logistics company Balkan Express and its affiliate Balkan Logistics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure their debts on April 30. Balkan Express operates 159 power units and employs about 166 drivers who ship general freight, including beverages. Three trucking companies that are not affiliated filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 7, 2025, including C&C Freight Network of Braselton, Ga.; Dedham, Mass.-based Best Choice Trucking LLC; and Memphis, Tenn.-based Best Logistics Inc., which all filed for bankruptcy to restructure their debts. Most recently, major trucking and logistics company Elite Carriers and four affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure their debts. Related: Key healthcare company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy The Merrill, Wis.-based company and affiliates ECI Inc., KLE Equipment Leasing LLC, Olson Equipment Leasing LLC, and Wausau Office Space LLC filed their petition to reorganize on May 21 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, listing $1 million to $10 million in assets and liabilities in its petition. More bankruptcy: Iconic auto repair chain franchise files Chapter 11 bankruptcyPopular beer brand closes down and files Chapter 7 bankruptcyPopular vodka and gin brand files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy The debtor indicated that funds would be available to distribute to unsecured creditors after the restructuring process. Elite Carriers, which was established in 1999, operates 70 trucks and employs 70 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's SAFER website. The company transports goods from the Midwest to the East Coast and Canada, according to its website. Related: Classic auto parts company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Job program for the formerly incarcerated tackles trucking industry shortage
New York City — Every time Jorge Badilla shifts into gear, he's sitting in the driver's seat of an industry that's running on fumes. According to the American Trucking Association, the industry is currently facing a shortage of about 60,000 drivers. With each mile, the 48-year-old Badilla is filling a critical need and mapping out a future he never thought he'd have. "I have an opportunity to do something positive for my life," Badilla told CBS News. "It feels great to be free." Freedom is especially meaningful to Badilla, who spent nearly a decade in federal prison for selling drugs from a housing project in New York City's Queens borough. "The FBI agent had his gun pointed to my face," Badilla said of his arrest. "...I didn't see the daylight for the next nine years." While in prison, Badilla earned his GED diploma. And while getting out of prison may have been the end of his sentence, it was the beginning of a different kind of struggle. "When you come out of prison, you feel like all the doors are locked," Badilla said. "Nobody wants to give you a job." Nationwide, six out of every 10 formerly incarcerated people are still jobless four years after getting out of prison, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Close to 70% will end up back in prison, according to numbers from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, a problem called recidivism. Badilla said that while in prison, seeing "a lot" of ex-felons who were rearrested "also helped me wake up." Following his release, Badilla entered the Commercial Driver's License Workforce Development Program, a pilot program that is a partnership between the New York City's Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, and Emerge Career, a tech company, that trains formerly incarcerated people who are considered low-risk for trucking jobs. It helps them get a commercial driver's license and connects them with trucking companies in states across the U.S. For incarcerated people who participate in initiatives that combine education and job training, the odds of returning to prison drop by 43%, according to a 2013 study by the nonprofit research group RAND. "When you put more barriers in somebody's pathway, they don't see a way to actually make an honest living and that doesn't benefit them, but it also really doesn't benefit society," Deanna Logan, director of the Mayor's Office for Criminal Justice, told CBS News. "They paid their debt to society and now they need to come back." Logan said the trucking industry provides a promising on-ramp to the labor market while filling a critical need in the American supply chain. "We looked at what was lucrative and accessible to people who are coming back from incarceration," Logan said. "We don't have enough people who are skilled, and it's a very skilled gave [the formerly incarcerated] a really big opportunity to be part of the communities that they knew they did harm to." While the program may raise eyebrows for some New Yorkers who are skeptical of how their taxpayer dollars are being spent, Logan pointed to the impact of giving formerly incarcerated people a second chance to help drive the economy in their communities. "If I have you incarcerated on Rikers, I have to pay for [the] facility, the officers, the food," she said. "Whereas, when I take a person and give them opportunity, they pay taxes. So now, we as a society are getting taxpayer revenue from a person that is not in a box on a shelf." Emerge Career co-founder Uzoma "Zo" Orchingwa said the program is rooted in the belief that people coming out of prison are often undervalued and underestimated. "Our people are just looking for someone that believes in them and someone that can give them a legit chance," Orchingwa told CBS News. "These are people that — for the most part — have not had a fair shot for being able to be successful and contributing citizens. They just need that one opportunity that's going to support them." In the 2024 fiscal year, 94% of participants in the training program graduated, according to data provided by Emerge Career. All of those graduates received job offers with an average starting salary of $75,000 per year, the company said. Since the trucking program launched, 260 formerly incarcerated people have completed it. Orchingwa emphasized that the training program provides its participants with more than just a paycheck, but a sense of purpose. "When folks are getting access to job opportunities and income, they're going to stay out of prison," Orchingwa said. Badilla described the freedom he now has, to drive anywhere, to that of a bird. "A bird is free," he said. Watch: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked what habeas corpus is in Senate hearing Watch: Rubio and Van Hollen get into testy exchange during Senate hearing Rubio interrupted at Senate hearing during remarks on changes at State Department
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Job program for the formerly incarcerated seeks to address U.S. trucking industry shortage
As trucker shortage grows, job program helps former inmates get behind the wheel New York City — Every time Jorge Badilla shifts into gear, he's sitting in the driver's seat of an industry that's running on fumes. According to the American Trucking Association, the industry is currently facing a shortage of about 60,000 drivers. With each mile, the 48-year-old Badilla is filling a critical need and mapping out a future he never thought he'd have. "I have an opportunity to do something positive for my life," Badilla told CBS News. "It feels great to be free." Freedom is especially meaningful to Badilla, who spent nearly a decade in federal prison for selling drugs from a housing project in New York City's Queens borough. "The FBI agent had his gun pointed to my face," Badilla said of his arrest. "...I didn't see the daylight for the next nine years." While in prison, Badilla earned his GED diploma. And while getting out of prison may have been the end of his sentence, it was the beginning of a different kind of struggle. "When you come out of prison, you feel like all the doors are locked," Badilla said. "Nobody wants to give you a job." Nationwide, six out of every 10 formerly incarcerated people are still jobless four years after getting out of prison, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Close to 70% will end up back in prison, according to numbers from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, a problem called recidivism. Badilla said that while in prison, seeing "a lot" of ex-felons who were rearrested "also helped me wake up." Following his release, Badilla entered the Commercial Driver's License Workforce Development Program, a pilot program that is a partnership between the New York City's Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, and Emerge Career, a tech company, that trains formerly incarcerated people who are considered low-risk for trucking jobs. It helps them get a commercial driver's license and connects them with trucking companies in states across the U.S. For incarcerated people who participate in initiatives that combine education and job training, the odds of returning to prison drop by 43%, according to a 2013 study by the nonprofit research group RAND. "When you put more barriers in somebody's pathway, they don't see a way to actually make an honest living and that doesn't benefit them, but it also really doesn't benefit society," Deanna Logan, director of the Mayor's Office for Criminal Justice, told CBS News. "They paid their debt to society and now they need to come back." Logan said the trucking industry provides a promising on-ramp to the labor market while filling a critical need in the American supply chain. "We looked at what was lucrative and accessible to people who are coming back from incarceration," Logan said. "We don't have enough people who are skilled, and it's a very skilled gave [the formerly incarcerated] a really big opportunity to be part of the communities that they knew they did harm to." While the program may raise eyebrows for some New Yorkers who are skeptical of how their taxpayer dollars are being spent, Logan pointed to the impact of giving formerly incarcerated people a second chance to help drive the economy in their communities. "If I have you incarcerated on Rikers, I have to pay for [the] facility, the officers, the food," she said. "Whereas, when I take a person and give them opportunity, they pay taxes. So now, we as a society are getting taxpayer revenue from a person that is not in a box on a shelf." Emerge Career co-founder Uzoma "Zo" Orchingwa said the program is rooted in the belief that people coming out of prison are often undervalued and underestimated. "Our people are just looking for someone that believes in them and someone that can give them a legit chance," Orchingwa told CBS News. "These are people that — for the most part — have not had a fair shot for being able to be successful and contributing citizens. They just need that one opportunity that's going to support them." In the 2024 fiscal year, 94% of participants in the training program graduated, according to data provided by Emerge Career. All of those graduates received job offers with an average starting salary of $75,000 per year, the company said. Since the trucking program launched, 260 formerly incarcerated people have completed it. Orchingwa emphasized that the training program provides its participants with more than just a paycheck, but a sense of purpose. "When folks are getting access to job opportunities and income, they're going to stay out of prison," Orchingwa said. Badilla described the freedom he now has, to drive anywhere, to that of a bird. "A bird is free," he said.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump order removing truck drivers who don't speak sufficient English made official by DOT
Although he spoke English when he was enrolled in a truck driver training program, Kevinson Jean, a Haitian immigrant, recalled feeling self-conscious during his commercial driver's license exam. 'Sometimes I was afraid to pronounce something wrong,' said Jean, who covers around 100,000 miles a year as a trucker. 'I didn't want people to laugh at me.' He recalled classmates from Iran who didn't speak English fluently, but still passed their exams. 'Nobody could understand them, but they passed,' he said. They and other truck drivers will now be subject to roadside English proficiency tests. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy officially signed a directive for his department to take truck drivers off the road if they are not fluent in English. The directive puts into effect an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on April 28. Trump's order changes the penalty for violations of the law, which for decades has required that, as a qualification to be a commercial motor vehicle driver, a person must "read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records." The Obama administration had relaxed the penalty from taking drivers off the road to being issued a citation. "We are issuing guidance that ensures a driver who cannot understand English will not drive a vehicle in this country. Period. Full stop," Duffy said in a news conference in Austin, Texas, the state with the highest number of heavy truck and tractor-trailer truck penalty reversal has drawn support from industry organizations who say it will improve highway safety. But there also is opposition from drivers and the industry, who have said the change risks sidelining a significant portion of the workforce without addressing core industry problems like pay, hours and trucker Trump issued his order, the American Trucking Association thanked him in a statement for "responding to our concerns on the uneven application of this existing regulation." The association named it its No. 2 concern in an April 10 letter to Duffy. Schools that fast-track training for commercial drivers' licenses was the group's top concern. Duffy said his department will review security procedures for awarding commercial drivers licenses, which vary state by state, and also review credentials of "nondomiciled" domestic and international truckers — those who are not residents of the state where they hold their commercial driver's license. "For too long, misguided policies have prioritized political correctness over the safety of the American people," Duffy said. The change has raised concern among drivers of Sikh and Punjabi background, said Mannirmal Kur, senior federal policy manager for the Sikh Coalition. She said there was a surge of Sikh and Punjab drivers from 2016 to 2018, and there are about 150,000 drivers of those backgrounds in the industry. Like other drivers, they also want safe roads for everybody, Kur said. But "we think there is a potential for discrimination in how that English language proficiency requirement is enforced." Trump's executive order raises questions over how state and local law enforcement officers certified as inspectors will decide who to pull over for an English proficiency test. "Is it someone who has an accent or maybe someone who wears a turban?" Kur asked. "Being ordered out of service could potentially be unemployment for the truck driver ... with potentially limited recourse." The group is awaiting more details on training and recommended that there be nationally standardized training for testing language proficiency. An analysis of Department of Transportation data by the Women of Trucking Advisory Board to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimated about 3.8% of the CDL workforce is limited in English proficiency. The industry has reported experiencing an increase in foreign-born drivers over the years, but drivers continue to be overwhelmingly white and male, according to the board's analysis. The number of large truck crashes and resulting fatalities and injuries fell in 2024, compared to 2023, and has been on a slide since 2021, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data. FTR Intelligence, which provides economic forecasting for the freight industry, reported that the FMCSA recorded about 15,200 English language proficiency violations over the two years ending in March, not all by the same drivers. Texas had the largest percentage of violations at 16%, but trucks with Mexican plates were 3.4% of the total. Jean said he expects the changed penalty will stop people who otherwise might have trained as truck drivers. 'It's already hard to get a job if you don't have at least a year of experience,' he said. 'Now imagine adding English fluency on top of that. It's going to take people a lot more time to find work.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC News
DOT confirms Trump order to get truck drivers who aren't proficient in English off the road
Although he spoke English when he was enrolled in a truck driver training program, Kevinson Jean, a Haitian immigrant, recalled feeling self-conscious during his commercial driver's license exam. 'Sometimes I was afraid to pronounce something wrong,' said Jean, who covers around 100,000 miles a year as a trucker. 'I didn't want people to laugh at me.' He recalled classmates from Iran who didn't speak English fluently, but still passed their exams. 'Nobody could understand them, but they passed,' he said. They and other truck drivers will now be subject to roadside English proficiency tests. On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy officially signed a directive for his department to take truck drivers off the road if they are not fluent in English. The directive puts into effect an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on April 28. Trump's order changes the penalty for violations of the law, which for decades has required that, as a qualification to be a commercial motor vehicle driver, a person must "read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records." The Obama administration had relaxed the penalty from taking drivers off the road to being issued a citation. "We are issuing guidance that ensures a driver who cannot understand English will not drive a vehicle in this country. Period. Full stop," Duffy said in a news conference in Austin, Texas, the state with the highes t number of heavy truck and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The penalty reversal has drawn support from industry organizations who say it will improve highway safety. But there also is opposition from drivers and the industry, who have said the change risks sidelining a significant portion of the workforce without addressing core industry problems like pay, hours and trucker training. After Trump issued his order, the American Trucking Association thank ed him in a statement for "responding to our concerns on the uneven application of this existing regulation." The association named it its No. 2 concern in an April 10 letter to Duffy. Schools that fast-track training for commercial drivers' licenses was the group's top concern. Duffy said his department will review security procedures for awarding commercial drivers licenses, which vary state by state, and also review credentials of "nondomiciled" domestic and international truckers — those who are not residents of the state where they hold their commercial driver's license. "For too long, misguided policies have prioritized political correctness over the safety of the American people," Duffy said. Questions over enforcement The change has raised concern among drivers of Sikh and Punjabi background, said Mannirmal Kur, senior federal policy manager for the Sikh Coalition. She said there was a surge of Sikh and Punjab drivers from 2016 to 2018, and there are about 150,000 drivers of those backgrounds in the industry. Like other drivers, they also want safe roads for everybody, Kur said. But "we think there is a potential for discrimination in how that English language proficiency requirement is enforced." The change raises questions over how a law enforcement officer decides who to pull over for an English proficiency test, she said. "Is it someone who has an accent or maybe someone who wears a turban?" she asked. "Being ordered out of service could potentially be unemployment for the truck driver ... with potentially limited recourse." The group is awaiting more details on training and recommended that there be nationally standardized training for testing language proficiency. An analysis of Department of Transportation data by the Women of Trucking Advisory Board to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimated about 3.8% of the CDL workforce i s limited in English proficiency. The industry has reported experiencing an increase in foreign-born drivers over the years, but drivers continue to be overwhelmingly white and male, according to the board's analysis. The number of large truck crashes and resulting fatalities and injuries fell in 2024, compared to 2023, and has been on a slide since 2021, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data. FTR Intelligence, which provides economic forecasting for the freight industry, reported that the FMCSA recorded about 15,200 English language proficiency violations over the two years ending in March, not all by the same drivers. Texas had the largest percentage of violations at 16%, but trucks with Mexican plates were 3.4% of the total. Jean said he expects the changed penalty will stop people who otherwise might have trained as truck drivers. 'It's already hard to get a job if you don't have at least a year of experience,' he said. 'Now imagine adding English fluency on top of that. It's going to take people a lot more time to find work.'
