It wasn’t too long ago when sudden closures like the one at Arrow Trucking was an anomaly. When the carrier stranded hundreds of drivers just three days before Christmas in 2009, drivers were shocked. Yet recently it seems almost normal that drivers are finding out that their carrier has gone under only when their fuel cards stop working. Now it’s happened again, with hundreds of HVH Transportation drivers left out in the cold.
HVH Transportation Inc. officially shut down on August 27th according to Transport Topics. CEO John Kenneally, reportedly told reporters that the shutdown was due in part to rising insurance premiums. When the company ran out of money, Kenneally claims that the bank froze the company’s assets. Kenneally says that once the fuel card operators caught wind, they froze the accounts, shutting truckers’ access to fuel immediately. That’s when drivers began finding out that the company was going under.
Despite Kenneally’s apparent implication that the shutdown was out of the company’s hands, a high level executive at the company told reporters that the company had been in tough financial straits for a while and that the bank had actually frozen the company’s accounts once before back in March. Other reporting disputes Kenneally’s claim that he is trying to avoid stranding drivers.
The situation is becoming all too familiar. Earlier this year, LME stranded a reported 400+ drivers nationwide and approximately 585 Falcon Transport drivers were employed when the company shut down without any notice. All three companies are thought to be in violation of the federal WARN act which requires companies with 100 employees or more to give their workers at least 60 days’ notice ahead of mass layoffs.
The private equity firm that owns HVH is referring reporters’ questions back to Kenneally.
Source: gobytrucknews, overdrive, freightwaves, ttnews, truckersreport, truckersreport, truckersreport
David Tyler says
Sad but becoming all to common !
bruce says
Thats also the reason where I’ve vowed that if that EVER happened to me while I’m out over the road I will get to the nearest “hood” and open those back doors and walk away with the keys left in the ignition. Call it the pot calling the kettle black or better yet call it do to others as they have clearly done to you. I can not believe a driver would stay out on the road as a few of those dunces did at LME for two/three weeks with no pay and not put two and two together. The entire time they knew the company was going under they had NO problem dispatching me on loads but no pay? Tit for tat is how I see it.
KB says
I’d make the best of a bad thing and depending on the product in the trailer I’d have a….fire sale. Then I’d start in the truck…piece by piece, who cares
Trucker Mike says
Your talking pretty tough there! I give those guys credit at LME, they were trying to be loyal…2 or 3 weeks is extreme…but, you got to think of the guys who are at the top in seniority…it is HARD to come across that again, and, well, starting over at the bottom SUCKS! That is one reason I am an O/O…I was instantly my senior most driver. LOL!
But, I can’t say I wouldn’t like to see guys like you do that.
My father-in-law once went for 6 mo without a check for his company…I couldn’t understand that, but, he stuck to it, kept his faith and they did pay him what he was owed. He stayed there and it happened a again a few months later…not for as long, but, eventually the company got bought out and then things were run much better. Again, I give him a LOT of credit for having that much faith AND showing up to work every day knowing he was probably going to have to live off his savings. Fortunately, both he and my mother-in-law are frugal with money and had it!
I just hope the employees all get what is coming to them in their paychecks.
inaNYminet says
One month as paycheck that’s it, I deadhead home and park the truck. Put mechanics lean on it till I get my paycheck and expenses. The drivers are last to be paid off, not first like it should be.
Cliff says
Your father in-law and you are good men. You have faith
JYGSAU says
Yo my dude, I’m just gittin in the game and I’m where you’re at. I was in the CORPS and the ARMY so I know about dedication……BUT……if you show me yours, best believe you gone see mine, REAL TALK!!!!!!
Robert West says
This is another example of private equity firms fleecing a trucking companies profits. Then drop them like a hot potato.
Joe says
You are exactly correct, it’s also happening to small trucking companies well
If you’re a driver and a private equity firm buys the company quit immediately
Sheriff John says
This is nothing new. These type of shutdowns are cyclic. How many large trucking companies from the 60s, 70s & 80s do we still see operating today? Not many. Bad money and personnel management I believe are the primary cause for these shutdowns.
Sean says
True. It is also the case that trucking companies will always lose when competing with railroads …regardless of the price of fuel..whether it’s 10 cents a gallon at the pump or 10 dollars. The railroads will always win…no exceptions. Period.
Yes you can get a truck load of freight coast to coast faster than a train load…but you can’t haul as much for less money…and the bottom line is lowest cost for greatest quantity delivered
…Period. Economics 101
Von says
And a drivers dream is to eventually own his own company someday, well good luck with that! Seems like all aspects of trucking is a nightmare now. Tickets, jail and lawsuits seems to be the only outcome of trucking companies and truck drivers. Regulations galore, pay double for everything on the road, tickets are twice the fine of regular cars. Get treated like crap at shippers and receivers. Mechanics out to scam you. And the list goes on….
tanner weston says
So true brother. 29+ years under my wheels.
Sad. Sad state of affairs.
Anthony says
Well said!
Vince says
I own a small fleet of 19 and at any time you could be in a bad spot with repairs, insurance, driver carelessness and bad managment to create a whirlwind that will do more than take off your hat.
It’s a shame that the bigger companies that just get bigger by bullying the market share and can get the great rates that 5-10-15,000 + trailers sitting around the country and a pool of trucks and respective driver are available to service those accounts and what they have left is offered through there brokerage at a fraction of the rate.
It’s called business.
When the rates that are offered wont even cover the normal expenses, your Break even point, you sit a day in an attempt to get a better rate and lose that days non profit earning or you take the load to get the driver moving and it starts the domino effect.
I’ve experienced this and have paid the ultimate expense as well as some great drivers and friends.
My heart aches when I hear or read more of what’s coming.
It appears that we’re going to have less than a dozen major carriers strategically placed to serve this growing country and its needs and I pray for all whom lay in its path of exponential loss to all us owner operators and small fleets doing our best to make something for ourselves and employ hard working men and women to serve our country and have a life.
It’s not if, but when.
If we can’t agree on the price of a
Free cup of coffee, we can only accept what happens to the I industry I and millions of others love….
Trucking.
bruce says
Vince, that scenario will give rise to unions. Its like a circle but that what would happen.
Jason says
Well said.
JYGSAU says
Well said brother, well said👍
Sean says
Why don’t the trucking company I es take a page out of the railroads playbook? The railroads buy their own fuel hundreds of millions of gallons at a time with long term set price contracts…they don’t get dinged at the pump with third party fueling..like trucking companies do when stopping at truck stops.
Jason Wells says
Dang, that was everything in a nutshell lol
Alex says
Twice the fine of regular cars? Where are you driving to see such cheap truck tickets?
Dale says
Or, you can run legal, smart, and safely. Drive safe and multiple daily inspections and no tickets. Trip plan your groceries and supplies so you aren’t shopping at a truckstop. Treat others the way you want to be treated and you may just see better treatment at shippers and receivers. Do as much of your own repairs that you’re capable of doing and it reduces your shop visits. I just rolled out with my own authority two weeks ago and I’m earning the most I ever have. Trucking for 8 years total and the last 5 years as an owner currently in my second rig. I guess it boils down to your attitude and acceptable level of risk. Good luck to you with both of them.
Mrs. C says
Von I didn’t think of it like that as a whole and that was well said! You got me thinking though because my husband works in construction and he says that some of their contracts is cleaning and doing structural repairs on test sites and he said when they 1st started, it was mainly testing new cars or it would be police getting their chase skills up. Lately though he said it’s only been those driverless semis being tested. So maybe all of this is just one big plan to knock off the big competition….. 🤔🤔 Just some thoughts!
Bigbadassbob says
Driverless trucks won’t be happening for many years but it may happen one day.
Alvin Brannick says
Amen right on. I’ve heard this same crap since 1975.
Rolando Martinez says
Right on the money
Hawk says
I hear u driver and it sad
bruce says
Von, I don’t know if you or other drivers have hears about this practice by Swift but only ten percent their northeast regional drivers have EZPass and the northeast region is the main area where drivers abandon their trucks because they are expected to take an advance from THEIR salary (money they have not yet been paid), pay the tolls, turn in the receipt with their logs and trips and then wait to be paid. I was in truck recovery and I quit after two months because I refused to clean out a THIRD truck smeared with human and dog crap. This one guy left the truck running with the heater on full blast even though it was in the 90’s. The truck could be smelled across the lot at that NJTurnpike gas island. I told then strait up have the truck towed to somewhere and let it air out. The driver whom they had sent to get the truck before me was fired on the spot because he refused to enter it (crap all over the steering wheel and inside windshield led me to believe the guy had to be collecting it for at least a week). Before that incident I picked up a truck where the guy had poured at least a five pound bag of flour in the gas tank. This one was on the P.A. Turnpike at the Petro in Carlisle. By the time the damage was fixed it would have been a lot cheaper to simply supply those drivers with an EZPass.
Matt Brown says
Those drivers hurt themselves more then they hurt swift.
They can just throw away their CDL because no insurance will take those kind of drivers. If no insurance is taking you then no company will hire you.
Don’t be emotional folks it will ruin everything for you.
You ain’t going to hurt billion dollar company with child’s revenge.
David says
32 years and few million miles later I can say that the trucking industry has only gone from bad to worse. These days it’s a frigging nightmare !
Actually the whole world is an insane asylum ran by the inmates !
Richard says
Sounds like people don’t want their goods delivered at all. I suggest a Nationwide strike. Eyes need opened
KB says
We had one of those in the 70s 80s…it worked wonders HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
James Oglesby says
Private equity firms are known for squeezing all the value out of companies by borrowing against their assets to the max, paying their owners large salaries, and then discarding said companies like used bathroom tissue.
KB says
The Mob does the same thing, except they call them for what they are BUSTOUTS
Peter J Shepherd says
Wow. They were just recruiting me just last week.
Jeff padgett says
The ata is a joke! They lobby for big carriers and against small ones. They don’t even know how to drive a truck but they will tell you how you should do your job!
Vaughn Cowan says
There is no unity in the trucking industry. It seems like everyone is out to make a fast buck and don’t care who they violate to get it. When we as an industry change our mindset, we will change our circumstances! It starts with US!
kc says
First tell tail sign of a bad business is when its own by a investment or equity firm. The only reason for these firms to own anything is to bleed every cent out of the company and burn banks. Once anyone hears about an equity firm or investment firm owning a company they plan to work with run away don’t walk!
Bobert says
That’s it right there, bravo!
bruce says
I wish there were an up or down thump. Your comment nailed it. I bet they are the ones pushing for those driverless trucks to hit the road.
Harley D. says
Another “Bullet” Dodged! I applied to this company some months back! Guess we know why they didn’t hire me! Sorry to hear!!
Shaun Hopkins says
I will finish my career here at a smaller, yet family owned company. Glad I’ll be getting out before the industry as a whole gets worse.
thomas r. stone says
well they just got to see ya can not pay peanuts if ya want good companys to stay around. ya can run but got to be able to turn profit . been doing it for 52 yrs it way bad now I can remember when you ran and made fair money now that is gone to many laws that have not helped the trucking at all guys just will not stick together sad but true
Billy Jones says
Most of these companies going out is owned by an investment company that bleeds them dry.
D.W.H. says
And who gets screwed the hardest in the end when these trucking companies FAIL FINANCIALLY?? That’s right folks it’s the DRIVER!! It’s ALL about the MONEY!!💯🇺🇸👍😎💰
Samuel R. Gallezzo says
The culture of trucking is such that drivers are considered expendable. Getting a heads up on your next load is almost impossible never mind if the company is closing down. Companies have left drivers to freeze to death while waiting for repairs. My only regret is that they don’t make a rule that makes fuel cards usable to get the equipment back to a company yard. How does it make it better to have abandoned equipment and loads all over the country?
Anto Gasparevic says
If I’m in that situation. Park the truck on side of the road, get my personal belongings and head home. Find another job to do….
Sad but some people work for far less as a truck drivers instead working 7:00-3:30 job be home everyday and not miss kids growing up…
Sean says
Right on!!!! That is why I got out of trucking…I got tired of getting screwed out of pay..And to many days out for so little money for hours actually worked. Lost 17K last year from LP with JCT. They didn’t pay me for waiting time or reimburse me for scale tickets as well. They also cheated on the lease…start with a balance of 126K. And pay 40K in lease payments..that equals 86K left..but they never got below 101K as an outstanding balance on the truck. They also claimed I hadn’t driven 100k miles
..uh. Let’s see..477k minus 315500k equals 161500 miles
Not less than 100k miles as they claim. Even if you take only .23 cents a mile as the lease payment that comes out to 37,145 in payments which is still below a 100K as a balance…Do the math.
Mark Gillespie says
Hope the drivers were smart and started dismantling truck and selling cargo then leave abandoned
Steve says
That is why when you go over the road you had better keep enough cash on hand to get back home in an emergency.
If it ever happened to me I would run that rig as far as I could on whatever fuel I had left heading for home, then just leave on the ramp.
bruce says
The same here but before I got to the end of the fuel I sure as hell would crack open those doors and see whats in that trailer. Tit for tat. They didn’t care, why should I? Twenty-four seven in a truck and out for four or five weeks at a time, fight for a parking space at overcrowded N.E. truck stops only to have the crooks I’m working for not pay me and the only way I knew there was a problem was when I tried to use my fuel card? No, I dont care. Would YOU?
Tyler A says
This is becoming an epidemic! Last year I went to work for a very large multinational corporation, who manufacturers and distributes their own products. I could never go back to driving for a trucking company. It’s a whole different world, hourly pay with overtime, hotels, meals, work clothing and boots, well anything associated with my job and needed is paid for. The cut rate world of the for hire trucking company, where they’ll haul it a nickel a mile cheaper than the next guy, or haul it at a loss because hopefully the backhaul rate will offset the loss. I think its only the beginning of this trend. As long as theres lunatics willing to do business this way there’s no end in site.
Steve Duggan says
Good. Another one bites the dust 🤘
Angela Udechukwu says
Why isn’t anyone mentioning that GREEDY INSURANCE COMPANY? Their prices are OUTRAGEOUS. Why do we sit back and accept it?
I have a notion to open an Insurance Company for Truckers. My husband and I did auto insurance back in the 80’s, I believe I can do it!
You don’t have to be greedy and over charge just to line your products. Enough is enough!!!
Norberto Carlos says
I agree 100%
bruce says
Not to be cruel Angela but where that argument falls flat is due to how many OTHER insurance carriers he could have turned to. There aren’t many granted but there are more than one.
Amana Express says
good luck, i have my own fleet and the only biggest thing i’m struggling with right niw us the stupid progressive insurance, they keep rising month to month for no reason!
the next step is to shut down if insurance companies aren’t fair enough.
Albert Ferguson says
These ‘creditors’ are Asian-based mobsters with allies in Berlin, London, NYC., and they are chasing cheap credit in American banks that suckers like truck drivers pack the banks with by working so hard. The invasion of the U.S. is underway, and the target is the bucks in the bank and anything in the way will find itself under similar circumstances as these small trucking companies and their employees.
Bernie D says
Dam looks like a few drivers are going to inherit a new truck.
Take the truck hide it ,and part it out .
Lots of companys would love tge parts.
Sounds uncool but dam stop thus crap.
Tom says
We dont see them operating any more because they changed their names and dumped the unions. Consolidated Freightways (CF) Didn’t go out of business, they formed a new non-union company that they call CFI. Same thing with Roadway and Yellow. They merged and now call themselves YFR. Schneider Trucking changed their name to Schneider National etc…
charli says
So much winning!!! Even after we were told that Republicans were in bed with ins companies!
I will not vote for this admin this time!!
Save your money, drivers!
Ben says
Yet they still yell driver shortage and continue to bring drivers from other countries under that pretence only to pay them trainee wages just a thought
Dan V says
I simply cant comprehend how in such a lucrative economy, where trucks are making record profits nation wide in every sector of road transport, that any company, one truck or one thousand, fail for any reason. Bad management is solely to be blamed.
Norberto Carlos says
A private equity firm owns the Trucking company. What this means is this “vulture” equity firm has taken all the company’s cash, assets, retirement funds, etc.., and left the carcass on the side of the road along with these poor stranded drivers. Business the American way!!
Bob Hunnicutt says
..so , are they leaving driver’s , and their RIGS stranded ? .. I would drive to Mexico and sell ..
Bob Hunnicutt says
The union is now needed , for ALL DRIVERS
Bob says
Unions are just as SLEAZY as the rest of them!
Unions are not needed. Bob…. you like to being a sheep?
Rod says
The very nature of a company is a big group of people to take advantage of the cheapest labor they can get an individuals only hope is to be part of the union
Ever wonder why the government destroyed unions instead of fixing them?
Did you know the St. Louis Teamsters union at one time supported their own country clubs hospitals and advanced education system in addition to their retirement ?
When the federal government found one minor official had embezzled less than $10,000 they shut the whole thing down.
Would they shut down a multimillion dollar company for the same thing?
They didn’t shut down Exxon for billions of dollars worth of damage to Alaska
Sean says
Good point..that is why I got out of trucking and make far more money doing math with much fewer hours of work.. BA in math 60 to 100k with only a 50 HR work week on occasion..mostly 40 HR weeks. Weekends off. Home every night. No dot rules no scales. ..no eld . salary pay…much better life.
No One's Son says
Sold my truck 2 days ago. So happy to be out of the schitt show for good.
Won’t miss trucking at all.
Justin says
When that flatbed company went under I bought chains and binders and stuff from a driver to get him enough fuel to go home
If they left me stranded like that without recalling the drivers back to the terminal I would sell the freight and take the tractor home and start parting it out if they owned me any money
Or just keep it and use it for my new owner operator biz , you could make some good money without a truck payment .
Richard Carrasco says
I am one of those drivers. I am still here at HVH. HVH is a good company. They’ve always taken care of me and still do. Please don’t believe what you read on the internet. It’s all lies to get people angry.
Richard Carrasco says
Why do you think I am the only driver with HVH and still with HVH that is posting here?
Mario says
It is an investment on you and you to them never know if you loose until the end when everyone starting at top take chunks of money from top to cover themselves for the next bfew years until they open under new management
WTF says
If i am stranded then the truck is stranded
Mr says
Best bet is to get out while you can ! That simple start finding other work or careers! It is what it is ….. sad but true .
Sean says
Right..Remember Enron people. What happened? The top end a holes took money and sold their stock while telling everyone else to keep buying stock…and what happened?!…
Gryphon says
It sucks for anyone to lose their job, but apparently the writing was on the wall. With the assets being frozen 5 months earlier, you almost have to think, ‘today would be a good day to go to work at _______’. But, if the owner managed to keep everything quiet, knew well before that he has drivers all over the country who are going to be left high and dry. Than he deserves far more than anything the government might do to him over the WARN Act. Personally, I think I’d be angry enough to put enough fuel in just to get home…not my home, the owners home. I would kindly return his truck, trailer and any load on it right to him, by parking it in his living room. I, would of course call him and tell him to get him and his family out of the house. I don’t want to go to prison for attempted murder, but I would happily go for willful destruction of this turd’s property. ‘Here you go boss, have a great day’.
m stanturf says
if it happens the answer is simple park the truck in the back row start parting out the truck and trailer. you cant touch the load cause then it becomes federal, but the truck tires and and fuel and drain the reefer
fuel tank. or drop the trailer and bobtail home then hold the truck for back wages.
sonny Pruitt says
Deal with it drivers.don’t dare take this OPPORTUNITY to look for gainful employment in another industry all together. Too many variables that can cost YOU THE DRIVER a lot of money and even prison time for no more money than your making per hour. And when you figure in the obvious reasons like being away from your family, not eating right not sleeping right, not exercising right etc. It just ain’t worth it. Take this time off to live for a real job without all of the uncompensated responsibility/liability.
Dave says
The banks are only going to extend credit to worthy borrower’s,if they get news things aren’t going well then they will shut you down,and rightly so. all of these recent shutdowns have been tragedies waiting to happen,you cannot run a large trucking company on promises anymore.sadly the drivers are always the last to know.
All drivers need to contact their local state representative or senator and let’s start enforcing the WARN act there is no reason why mass amounts of drivers in this day and age should be stranded anywhere
Period!
Ken says
Sell the truck to the first person comes along!! Cheap
Badbasics says
I would not risk going to prison by selling off company equipment nor company’s freight. the arm of the government is long. yes it is a terrible situation for the employees and revenge comes all too quickly to the mind ,but it is a risk that all of us take on a daily basis just by living. I had to learn the hard way too. my advice is always have a calamity fund..
Walt says
I am a retired vet love driving all the rules do hurt us but they also help in a small manor the shoppers and receiver hurt us the most i do believe if we would all go on strike for 3 to 4 days we could get are ideas across better
charli says
I see unless you’re uninformed and suffer from cognitive dissonance your comment will “ stay in que”
Harry B. Onia says
Insurance companies base rates on the FMCSA scores. Keep that in mind when you just get a “warning”. It’s just as bad as a ticket in the eyes of the insurance company and your rates will sky rocket once they go to renew your policy.
Mike says
Yeah. And you cant fight a ‘warning’ ticket. You have no recourse.
caboverpete says
back in the 90’s i remember Transit Group bought up many small very profitable companies and ran them all in to bankruptcy, took the money and ran… happens all too often
John says
First missed pay park the truck or drive it straight home do NOT keep going as it will be free work.
Mike says
Never, never, ever run your tanks below 3/8. At least you can get headed towards home before you run it absolutely dry enroute to the house!
Mike says
I recall helping Arrow drivers who were stranded along I-40. They sold chains, tires, anything they could to pay for a ticket home. Was a mess!