The owner of Charger Inc. is calling it quits two years after buying the former J.B. Hunt Transport flatbed division for $40 million.
Mike T. Bradley said he has begun an “orderly liquidation” of the 600-tractor fleet, based in Springdale, Ark., due to cash flow problems and the company’s inability to recover rapidly rising costs for fuel, driver wages and other expenses from shippers.
Following the buyout in July 1997, Bradley, who was the flatbed division manager at J.B. Hunt, arranged to have the entire fleet of 650 company-owned tractors replaced with 550 new Century Class tractors from Freightliner Corp. and optimistically projected that revenue would grow from $75 million in 1996 to $185 million over five years.
“We had a young company, and we were unable to build up a nest egg for bad times,” Bradley said in an interview with Transport Topics Dec. 22. “It’s basic economics — demand and supply.”
For the full story, see the Dec. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. .
