The reported financial mismanagement that led to Yellow Corp’s downfall has opened the door for other truck transportation outfits to expand and flourish. If one thing holds true in the trucking sector, it’s that more than 70 percent of all goods and materials will be delivered by CDL holders, come what may.
After 99-year-old Yellow filed for bankruptcy in July, upwards of 300 Teamsters in the Buffalo-Niagara area were sent to the unemployment lines. With three Yellow properties now auctioned for $23 million in the region, drivers and warehouse workers could be heading back to work in the coming months.
Virginia-based Estes Express purchased two Yellow assets in the area. A facility in Tonawanda sold for $8.3 million, and one in Cheektowaga went for $5.5 million. Pitt Ohio, a less-than-truckload LTL operation based in Pittsburgh, also acquired a Cheektowaga property for $9.1 million. Ranked among the top 15 LTL companies in 2023, Estes and Pitt reportedly plan to reopen the recently acquired locations.
The Tonawanda location is expected to significantly expand Estes’ footprint in the region. The facility is nearly four times the size of an Estes regional hub. According to reports, the Tonawanda facility could be operational as early as April.
“In the short term, we’re obviously not going to need the entire facility we’re going into. We think that has tremendous potential, a tremendous upside and will accommodate our growth for years to come,” Estes Northeast regional vice president Bob O’Connor reportedly said. “Obviously, we would like to grow as much as we can in that [Buffalo] market,” O’Connor said. “Now we’ll have a facility to accommodate that growth. Anything we can do, we’re going to try to increase that cross-border traffic.”
Estes has been on the move in the Buffalo-Niagara area since 1996. The operation outgrew a location in Tonawanda, before relocating to Hamburg. The acquisition from bankrupt Yellow allows Estes to regain a pivotal location to serve a zone that spans from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania line and east as far as Batavia, N.Y.
Pitt Ohio has experienced similar growing pains at its Cheektowaga, N.Y. facility. With a workforce of truckers, warehouse personnel, and administrative staff tallying 40, gaining a larger base of operations is expected to help support its growth as well.
“We are adding jobs because we are fast growing,” Pitt Ohio executive vice president Geoff Muessig reportedly said.
Truck drivers and warehouse workers who have not already caught on with other companies may have an opportunity to return to the same Yellow facilities that abruptly closed in 2023.
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