Flatbed Carrier Montgomery Transport Closes Down
Alabama-Based Trucking Firm to File for Liquidation in Coming Days
Key Takeaways:
- Flatbed carrier Montgomery Transportation shut down Oct. 9 and is expected to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy next week after a failed sale to PS Logistics.
- The collapse followed One Equity Partners’ June decision to exit trucking amid weak freight rates, high maintenance costs and an aging fleet.
- About 650 employees lost jobs as Montgomery became one of the largest casualties of the prolonged freight recession, with industry peers moving to hire its drivers.
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Flatbed carrier closed its doors Oct. 9 and is expected to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy early next week, a source close to the situation told Transport Topics.
A representative of , which owns a controlling stake in Montgomery, declined to comment when reached by TT.
Birmingham, Ala.-based Montgomery ceased operations after a deal to sell the company to an affiliate of fellow Birmingham-based carrier DZ.
A representative for PS Logistics declined to comment when contacted Oct. 10.
PS Logistics ranks No. 25 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 3 on the flatbed carrier sector list.
One Equity Partners bought Montgomery in February 2022. The private equity firm focuses on the industrial, health care and technology sectors in North America and Europe.
The private equity firm decided to exit trucking in June and was in talks with P&S Transportation, a unit of PS Logistics, but a deal collapsed, according to the source.
One Equity Partners was selling because of weak freight rates, an aging fleet and high maintenance costs, the source said.
The sale to P&S was due to close Sept. 30 but ran into a roadblock Sept. 26 when a temporary restraining order was filed in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Ala.
Montgomery then intended to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with P&S the stalking horse bidder, but a deal could not be sealed, the source said, leading to the carrier closing its doors.
Montgomery was formed in 2011. The company had about 650 employees as of this week.
The group’s brands comprised over-the-road flatbed specialist , , heavy-haul specialist and third-party logistics group , plus a unit working with owner-operators known as .
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records updated as recently as Oct. 9 show Montgomery Transport operated 449 tractors and had 458 drivers, RM Logistics had 17 tractors and 17 drivers, and MT Select had 171 tractors and 171 drivers.
Other Alabama carriers held Montgomery drivers in high esteem, judging by the number of employment offers being made across multiple social media platforms.
Meanwhile, Montgomery Transportation founder and former CEO Rollins Montgomery for the deal with P&S falling through.
Montgomery, now CEO of Montgomery Entities — which operates businesses including a staffing firm and insurance brokerage — pointed to “speculation suggesting that my actions, including recent litigation with the majority owners of Montgomery Transport and other parties, are somehow responsible for the company’s challenges.”
“That simply is not true. I would never take steps that would intentionally harm the company I built and have fought for over so many years,” he wrote, adding: “All the employees who have lost their jobs will remain in my thoughts and prayers.”
Montgomery is the latest carrier, and one of the largest, to succumb to the ongoing freight recession, which is now more than double the length of a typical downswing.
Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers said Oct. 2 at the Wex OTR Summit in San Antonio that he knew of 17 bankruptcies of carriers with more than 250 tractors in the past quarter.
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