The trucking trade has confronted financial misery with declining revenues and earnings since 2022, which firms have blamed on lowered delivery demand, decrease freight charges, and rising prices of labor, gasoline, and insurance coverage pushed by inflation.
Business specialists have referred to as the downturn the Nice Freight Recession, and monetary leads to the final 12 months haven’t predicted an finish coming quickly.
Whereas the downturn is devastating for trucking firms, the decrease freight charges have benefited prospects.
However as trucking firms exit of enterprise, demand will rise and charges will doubtless enhance based mostly on provide and demand.
Trucking demand declined
Lengthy-haul truckload demand plummeted by 25% within the first half of 2025, with trucking turning into extra of a short-haul supply methodology for the ultimate leg of freight motion, in accordance with the Lengthy Outbound Tender Quantity Index, FreightWaves reported.
Freight firms filed 21 chapter petitions within the third quarter of 2025 in comparison with 20 filed within the second quarter, Gear Finance Information reported. Fourth-quarter statistics weren’t out there ultimately verify.
Some trade executives, nonetheless, imagine trucking sector circumstances will enhance in 2026.
“I think we’re at least in the late stages and maybe starting to come up,” Doug Waggoner, CEO of Echo International Logistics.
Trucking sector restoration predicted
Waggoner is predicting enchancment within the trucking trade, doubtless after the primary quarter of 2026, he informed Logistics Administration.
“But traditionally, January and February are the slowest months of the year,” Waggoner stated.
And that continues to be true.
A number of nationwide and regional trucking firms continued submitting for Chapter 11 chapter safety in February, looking for to reorganize their companies, restructure debt, and stay in enterprise.
Newkirk Logistics information for chapter
Dallas-based Newkirk Logistics Inc. filed its Subchapter V Chapter 11 petition within the U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the Northern District of Texas in Fort Value on Feb. 4, in accordance with Public Entry to Courtroom Digital Data as reported by BankruptcyObserver.
The debtor listed $1 million to $10 million in belongings and liabilities in its petition.
Newkirk Logistics operates 83 energy items, or vans, and 94 drivers, in accordance with the Federal Motor Service Security Administration’s SAFER submitting on the corporate.
The debtor offers interstate delivery of normal freight and U.S. mail, in accordance with the submitting.
The corporate has additionally contracted with DHL eCommerce for delivery lately, in accordance with courtroom paperwork reported by FindLaw.
Newkirk confronted an extra time compensation criticism filed in December 2023, in accordance with courtroom paperwork reported by Justia and a number of different lawsuits over the past 5 years.
All authorized actions are normally topic to an automated keep whereas the chapter case proceeds.
A a lot smaller intermodal and drayage provider, Tacoma, Wash.-based Bee & G Enterprises LLC, which operates seven vans with six drivers in accordance with SAFER, filed for Chapter 11 chapter on Feb. 14.
Bee & G carries normal freight, recent produce, and refrigerated meals.
The debtor’s provider authority is energetic, however its dealer authority has been revoked, FreightWaves reported.
Kansas-based trucking firm Mast Trucking information for Chapter 11 safety.
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Mast Trucking information for chapter
Lastly, Kansas-based trucking firm Mast Trucking Inc., which operates 55 vans with 56 drivers, filed for Chapter 11 chapter on Feb. 10 to reorganize its enterprise and function as regular, Trucking Dive reported.
An Ohio-based firm, additionally named Mast Trucking, shouldn’t be affiliated with the Kansas firm and didn’t file for chapter, in accordance with an individual answering the corporate’s telephone on Feb. 21.
Clients’ wants and the Kansas firm’s drivers usually are not affected by the chapter continuing, the corporate’s President Leroy Mast informed Trucking Dive in an electronic mail.
The Sublette, Kan., provider filed its petition within the U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the District of Kansas, itemizing $1 million to $10 million in belongings and liabilities.
Extra bankruptcies:
- 73-year-old household diner franchisee information Chapter 11 chapter
- Extra troubled regional airways file for Chapter 11 chapter
- Main division retailer model liquidates in Chapter 11 chapter
The debtor’s largest collectors embody the U.S. Small Enterprise Administration, owed $2 million; Industrial Credit score Group Inc., owed over $1 million; Leroy and Aggie Mast, owed $1 million; and Volvo Automobile Monetary Companies, owed over $540,000.
Mast Trucking hauls normal freight, constructing supplies, grain, feed, hay, and blood plasma, in accordance with SAFER.
Mast Trucking Prime 10 collectors:
- U.S. Small Enterprise Administration, $2 million
- Industrial Credit score Group Inc., over $1 million
- Leroy and Aggie Mast, $1 million
- Volvo Automobile Monetary Companies, over $540,000
- BMO Harris, over $276,000
- Daimler Truck Monetary, over $271,000
- Pawnee Leasing Corp., over $145,000
- Balboa Capital Corp., over $96,000
- Flagstaff Monetary & Leasing, over $92,000
- Toyota Industrial Finance, over $56,000
Associated: Troubled workplace furnishings firm information for Chapter 11 chapter
