In another sign of the economic damage brought on by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a new investigation shows trucking company bankruptcies are spreading with at least five Texas firms filing in less than a month.
An investigation by industry magazine FreightWaves found that at least 16 U.S. trucking, delivery and transportation companies have entered bankruptcy proceedings since late August. Those filing range from small owner-operators to fleets with dozens of trucks.
Diesel fuel, one of biggest and most volatile operating expenses for trucking companies, hit a record average of $6.53 per gallon on Sept. 22. Experts have called the Iran war and its spreading regional turmoil the single biggest driver behind the record-breaking price surge.
Two of the Texas companies identified in Freightwaves’ investigation are South Texas-based, one of them in the San Antonio area.
Federal filings show that Jett Transport & Materials LLC, based in the Alamo City-area community of Somerset filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 14. The company, which operates 14 trucks and 14 trailers, has assets between $100,000 and $500,000.
Xoco Transport LLC, operating from Hidalgo, filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 16. That business listed assets between $1 million and $10 million, and it has 40 trucks and 70 trailers.
Under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a judge oversees a company’s reorganization to pay off its creditors, which often involves selling off some of its assets.
Meanwhile, three Texas trucking companies — T Yorkman Trucking LLC of Midland, Blue Star Transports LLC of Garland and Jackdollars Transport LLC of McKinney — have filed for Chapter 7 liquidation.
The most common outcome of a Chapter 7 filing is a business closing down and selling off its assets to cover its debt.
“We have seen some of the most radical and abnormal swings in fuel prices that I think we’ve ever seen,” Brad Delco, finance chief at trucking giant J.B. Hunt, recently told financial analysts, according to CNBC.
But the damage doesn’t just end with the trucking industry. Economists warn that consumers will feel the effect of record diesel prices when they buy anything from groceries to products delivered by Amazon.
“Diesel is the fuel that moves the economy, and when diesel prices reach record levels, the impact extends far beyond the transportation sector,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy said in a statement. “Higher diesel prices impact consumers as rising supply chain costs increase the price of groceries, household goods, deliveries, and countless other products Americans rely on every day.”
Texas politics is a mess. We make it a readable mess.
Sign up for San Antonio Current’s new “Texas Politics This Week” newsletter.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
