Gap in the convoy-Company’s shutdown sends ripple effect through local freight business

There’s more freight and one less company to haul it – with last week’s shutdown of Consolidated Freightways Corp. – and some Missoula trucking companies will pick up some of the load.

By MICK HOLIEN of the Missoulian

"It will definitely have a positive effect on our company, which is kind of sad,” said Ray Kuntz, chief executive officer of Watkins and Shepard Inc., which employs about 700 drivers and uses about 100 more individual operators. "Any significant increase in business really helps out right now, especially with the economy where it’s been the last two years.”

Consolidated Freightways, a 73-year-old company and the nation’s third largest less-than-truckload carrier, declared bankruptcy Monday and ordered immediate closure.

Kuntz estimated that Consolidated hauled 15 percent of the nation’s freight.

"I think it’s probably good for this company because there’s more business to get now,” said Julio Hernandez, a truck driver for Parrett Trucking of Tuscaloosa, Ala., who was fueling at the Town Pump in Bonner on Friday. "They haul a lot of small stuff and that’s something we can do.”

Missoula-based trucking company owners Jim Palmer and Gene Tripp said the shutdown won’t directly affect their companies because they’re not hauling the same kind of business.

"We don’t compete with them at all,” said Palmer. "We’re kind of two different leagues – like Division II and Division I-AA – and sometimes you don’t play each other. The only thing is it will show that truck rates aren’t enough. There’s a lot of them in the industry that aren’t making money.”

The Consolidated Freightways shutdown surprised western Montana employees, 10 of whom were left immediately unemployed.

"The only thing that we knew about anything was that there were going to be some changes made, so nobody expected what happened,” said Jim Dennison, Consolidated Freightways terminal manager for Missoula and Kalispell. "We don’t know that much about what happens in upper management."

Dennison, who was at the Missoula terminal on Friday, said the bankruptcy court had allowed a few employees to temporarily return to move the freight already in the system to waiting customers.

Consolidated Freightways is based in Vancouver, Wash., with Montana terminals in Bozeman, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Kalispell and Missoula. Its owners notified employees Monday that they filed bankruptcy and were immediately shutting down, leaving approximately 15,500 employees jobless across the nation.

Truck drivers have been at a premium over the last decade, but more drivers now becoming available doesn’t solve the ultimate problem.

"The bottom line is, long term, it’s not going to help because the same amount of freight has to be moved and the same amount of drivers need to be employed to move it,” said Kuntz. "We have a shortage today and that’s not going to change.”

While Tripp doesn’t have a problem finding drivers, he agrees it can be difficult. The jobs at Tripp’s Bearmouth Express are more desirable, he said, because his drivers are home on the weekend. The company delivers Pepsi products in the Western states.

That sentiment was echoed by Palmer, who owns about 350 trucks and operates in most areas except the Northeast.

"Right at this point in time today we’re full and that’s unusual,” he said, "but it changes pretty fast. … There’s all kind of jobs out there.”

Hernandez, who has worked for the Alabama company for just a month, agrees.

"All the companies are looking for drivers all the time. And the drivers are always looking,” he said. "We want to work for the best companies.”

Dennison said local Consolidated Freightways drivers are beating the streets and agreed the job market for drivers is good.

"Some of them have already found jobs,” he said. "We have good people with good reputations and clean driving records so that’s good.

William Hiser, who drives for a McKinney, Texas, trucking company, said there’s more jobs than drivers.

"There’s about 750 of their (Consolidated Freightways) drivers in the Dallas area and I think most of them are pretty optimistic that they can find work,” he said. "I’ve seen them out there saying they’re ready to hit the sidewalk and look.”

However, Consolidated drivers traditionally haul regular routes. Those jobs, said Kuntz, could be difficult to replace.

"It will harder for them, I presume, to find jobs with those regular routes, if not almost impossible,” he said. "The majority of those guys are going to have to adapt to a (new) type of work style.”

Missoulian reporter Michael Moore contributed to this report.

Trouble for trucking

In the long term, the demise of Consolidated Freightways is more bad news for a struggling, yet extremely vital, industry.

"There’s going to be a real crisis of equipment shortage when this economy turns around,” said Ray Kuntz, CEO of Watkins and Shepard Inc.

In 2001 alone, 56,000 trucking companies declared bankruptcy nationwide. That took some 200,000 trucks off the road, according to Kuntz.

Some were small operations. But with an average loss of one to two trips a week, Kuntz said that’s 200,000 to 400,000 trips a year that aren’t made.

There are about 200 firms and independent trucking operations in Missoula County alone and the average wage of $33,969 is among the area’s highest, according to Missoula Area Economic Development Corp. figures.

Trucking-related jobs account for one in every 11 jobs statewide, according to a company with a $14 million Montana payroll which moves just a small percentage of the state’s freight.