Three bankruptcies in recent weeks showed financial challenges for trucking businesses across the U.S.
The filings illustrate how the industry has seen significant decreases in the number of trucking businesses remaining in the market — in part due to less freight activity. The recent series of bankruptcy petitions in court included:
- Aneiro’s Trucking of California filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is typically done for liquidating assets.
- Atlantic Subsea of New Jersey, a marine industry solutions provider, filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization.
- Timec Oil and Gas and affiliated businesses in Texas also filed for Chapter 11.
Reorganized businesses can still continue operations and may, under court approval, borrow new money, a federal bankruptcy courts guide notes.
The Chapter 11 cases both entail estimated liabilities of over $1 million up to $10 million, according to the filings. Atlantic Subsea has over $10 million in estimated assets, and Timec estimated its assets as $10 million at most.
The filings further provide a glimpse into how businesses have been operating amid a changing market. Aneiro’s, for example, made nearly $1.6 million and $1.1 million in 2024 and 2025 revenues and then $226,000 for Jan. 1 through Aug. 17, according to the petition.
Adding pressure to the market, freight volumes have been hurting. Cass Information Systems’ shipments index — which captures a variety of companies’ TL and LTL freight across areas such as food, heavy equipment and retail — highlights an overall decline in shipments in recent years, following a COVID-19 pandemic peak in December 2021.
