TNT Express Sells Chinese Trucking Business

TNT Express has sold its domestic Chinese trucking business, TNT Hoau, kicking off the Dutch delivery company’s stand-alone strategy after a failed $6.8 billion takeover by UPS.

TNT did not say how much the buyer, CITIC PE, China’s state-owned private equity fund, is paying for Hoau, which it has owned since 2007.

It expects to close on the deal, which requires regulatory approval, in the second half of 2013, with part of the payment being settled in 2014.

Shanghai-based Hoau, which is thought to be marginally profitable, is one of China’s largest road distribution companies offering day-definite deliveries through a network of 1,500 depots serving more than 600 cities.

“In the past few years, Hoau has transformed itself into a leading nationwide operator in China. The change of ownership secures the ongoing growth and development of the company,” said Bernard Bot, TNT’s interim chief executive.

Following the deal, “TNT Express will focus on offering the broadest range of international services to and from China,” Bot said.

Bot said the sale of Hoau was “imminent” on Monday when he unveiled plans to shed 4,000 jobs, six percent of TNT’s payroll, shrink its intercontinental air capacity, and focus on its core European market, as it adjusted to European anti-trust regulators’ blocking the UPS takeover.

TNT is now looking for a buyer for its domestic Brazilian operation, which remains unprofitable but has reduced losses in the first two months of 2013.

The company said the restructuring program is targeting annual savings of 220 million euros ($282 million) and will result in a one-off charge of 150 million euros ($192 million).

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TNT Express' 3Q Profit Declines

TNT Express NV, Europe’s second largest post company, said its third-quarter earnings fell to about $7 million, from about $19 million a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.

Revenue rose 1.3% year-over-year to about $2.4 billion, said TNT, which reports its earnings in euros.

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Frozen Food Express Sets Non-Driving Staff Cuts to Reduce Costs

Frozen Food Express Industries said Tuesday it will reduce its non-driving employee payroll by about 12%, to cut costs, and that a planned equipment sale was ahead of schedule.

The refrigerated carrier said it would take a charge of about $400,000 in the fourth quarter and that the action would save it about $500,000 annually.

FFE on Friday reported a third-quarter loss of $13.7 million, and the company said last month that it plans to sell more than 400 dry vans and almost 300 tractors to truckload carrier Celadon Group.

It said it expects to receive about $21.9 million in cash in the fourth quarter and January from the equipment sale.

“The reduction, although regrettable, had to be made at this time as the sale of equipment was conducted much quicker than we expected,” CEO Russell Stubbs said in a statement.

Frozen Food Express is ranked No. 57 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, and is the fifth largest refrigerated carrier.

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Frozen Food Express' 3Q Loss Grows

Frozen Food Express Industries on Friday said its third-quarter loss increased from a year ago.

The refrigerated carrier lost $13.7 million, or 77 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.3 million, or 13 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose to $103 million, from $94 million a year ago, while revenue excluding fuel surcharges increased 2.6% to $81.5 million, the company said in a statement.

Less-than-truckload revenue rose 4.5% to $30.7 million, while truckload revenue fell 5.5% to $44.5 million.

In a statement, CEO Russell Stubbs said the company has taken steps to streamline its operations by limiting dry-freight services to refrigerated equipment in limited lanes while placing greater focus on its refrigerated truckload and LTL services.

“Focus in these areas, and growth in our logistics offerings, will be a key to restoring our company to meaningful profitability,” Stubbs said in the statement.

Frozen Food Express is ranked No. 57 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

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Frozen Food Express Selling Dry Vans, Tractors to Celadon

Frozen Food Express Industries said it will sell more than 400 dry vans and almost 300 tractors to truckload carrier Celadon Trucking Services.

The Dallas-based refrigerated carrier said earlier this month it would restructure its dry van operations and dispose of 435 trailers and reduce its fleet by 290 tractors.

“We will continue to provide dry freight services through use of our refrigerated fleet on lanes that make economic sense for both our customers and our company,” FFE president Russell Stubbs said in a joint statement with counterpart Paul Will, president of Celadon.

“We will continue to aggressively grow in our core business, which is temperature controlled [less-than-truckload] and truckload transportation” operations, Stubbs said.

Celadon Trucking Services is part of Celadon Group, ranked No. 42 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. Frozen Food Express is ranked No. 57.

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Russell Gerdin, Founder of Heartland Express, Dies at 70

Russell Gerdin, the founder and former chairman and CEO of Heartland Express Inc., died Friday at the age of 70.

In a release announcing Gerdin’s death, Heartland Express described its founder as “a visionary and a respected leader in the trucking industry” and “a tireless worker who led by example.”

Gerdin founded the truckload carrier in 1978 and took the company public in 1986.

Gerdin recently retired from Heartland due to health reasons and passed the chairman and CEO positions to his son, Michael Gerdin.

“He was driven at making Heartland Express the best company he could and doing the best at anything he tried,” Michael Gerdin said of his father in a statement. “He was always focusing on giving it his 100 percent. We will miss his leadership and industry foresight.”

The leadership of American Trucking Associations expressed its condolences Monday at the group’s Management Conference and Exhibition in Grapevine, Texas.

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