Central Transport | Preparing to be sold?

[runawaytrain]

That's the question and the reason I ask it is because of this. Here in Dallas we have a contract with a maintenance company that repairs all of our trucks. And they have two shifts that are always busy from replacing tires to A/C work to starters....Now we have one of biggest International truck dealerships in Texas on site with their mobile units addressing all the computer issues on their trucks to get them running and they are. But why now when they have never done this before? Why now are they spending so much on maintenance when we are so cash poor? You guys can't see what goes on in Texas so you can't get a feel of what's happening here, but this is strange. Very strange.

 

[had enough]

t.m. was taking inventory on our equipment last week. this is very unusual here. i see some equipment for sale on IRON PLANET.COM.

 

[runawaytrain]

t.m. was taking inventory on our equipment last week. this is very unusual here. i see some equipment for sale on IRON PLANET.COM.

That's another thing, In the last 6 months we have sent at least 20 trucks to be sold as scrap I suppose. Now we have about another 10 on the dead line for the same fate. They keep bring them down and moving them out....Kinda like Rawhide? Most of you probably won't get that because your thinking to yourself....What the hell is Rawhide?

 

[stunhsif]

That's another thing, In the last 6 months we have sent at least 20 trucks to be sold as scrap I suppose. Now we have about another 10 on the dead line for the same fate. They keep bring them down and moving them out....Kinda like Rawhide? Most of you probably won't get that because your thinking to yourself....What the hell is Rawhide?

Good old Frankie Laine, a one hit wonder!

 

[runawaytrain]

Good old Frankie Laine, a one hit wonder!

Rollin...Rollin....Rollin....Keep movin...movin....movin...Though they're disapproving....Keep them doggies movin.....Rawhide!!! I'm impressed Stunman....You know Frankie didn't write that song....Ned Washington did....FYI

 

[Not_wanted]

That's another thing, In the last 6 months we have sent at least 20 trucks to be sold as scrap I suppose. Now we have about another 10 on the dead line for the same fate. They keep bring them down and moving them out....Kinda like Rawhide? Most of you probably won't get that because your thinking to yourself....What the hell is Rawhide?

Maybe Vitran complained long enough to the leasing company about issues and said either fix them or we will not make any more payments?

Maybe Vitran's insurance company said either clean up or we will not renew your policy? (their numbers show high risk)

Scrapping is a good way to write off the unit as a loss on taxes, that will help lesson the loss that shows it's ugly face every quarter.

Who would want to buy Vitran anyway? What would they have to gain? So many units and building are leased their true net worth is very low, but, the money losses would make a good tax write off for a company making to much money!!!

 

[had enough]

i don't think anyone would buy it, prob a spinoff. we will be screwed if we are bought out. no dovetail seniority. have to reapply with entry pay and bottom of seniority most likely.

 

[Buckeyedriver7]

That's the question and the reason I ask it is because of this. Here in Dallas we have a contract with a maintenance company that repairs all of our trucks. And they have two shifts that are always busy from replacing tires to A/C work to starters....Now we have one of biggest International truck dealerships in Texas on site with their mobile units addressing all the computer issues on their trucks to get them running and they are. But why now when they have never done this before? Why now are they spending so much on maintenance when we are so cash poor? You guys can't see what goes on in Texas so you can't get a feel of what's happening here, but this is strange. Very strange.

They did the same thing in TOL about 3 months ago. The dealer came in and re-flashed the computers for some type of recall. They are still taking 5 trucks at a time to the dealership to fix all the recalls and replace EGR valves.

 

[runawaytrain]

i don't think anyone would buy it, prob a spinoff. we will be screwed if we are bought out. no dovetail seniority. have to reapply with entry pay and bottom of seniority most likely.

When it comes to this place nothing is out of the realm of possibilities.

 

[undead]

corporate maintaince was at my terminal this week he plans on repairing dock plates and doors in october one curious he said good vehicles were being red tagged at some terminals

 

[luci]

That's the question and the reason I ask it is because of this. Here in Dallas we have a contract with a maintenance company that repairs all of our trucks. And they have two shifts that are always busy from replacing tires to A/C work to starters....Now we have one of biggest International truck dealerships in Texas on site with their mobile units addressing all the computer issues on their trucks to get them running and they are. But why now when they have never done this before? Why now are they spending so much on maintenance when we are so cash poor? You guys can't see what goes on in Texas so you can't get a feel of what's happening here, but this is strange. Very strange.

Vitran's way of handling business is to sweep problems under the rug. They never fixed equipment when they were upbeat about turning the company around. I cannot imagine Vitran fixing stuff before they sell it.

Seriously, the increase on maintenance seems to be the move of a company with an eye to the future.

Some drivers have mentioned the repairs being done to dock plates at other terminals, and speculate it is being done to put the terminals back in good working order before closing so the owner does not charge them for the damage. Some say the trucks are getting fixed so they can go back to the lease company. I can see both of those points of view. However, I have spoke to several mechanics at different terminals, and a mechanic foreman who all say a similar thing: all ABS repairs on trailers are being sent to a couple terminals specializing in ABS repair. Each repair will cost between $400 and $1500 and nearly every pup and most vans have no functioning ABS. The foreman said one shop is spending about $10,000 a week on ABS repair. To my knowledge Vitran owns the pups.

I guess it all comes down to how much investigating would be done by a possible buyer. It that buyer sent in a team to asses the equipment before an offer was made then fixing all this stuff before a sale would make sense, but fixing it all before closing makes no sense. Fixing it all to stay open and become profitable makes sense.

It can only mean they think we will stay open, or a sale is coming. I know some of you think a sale is absurd to think about, but a turn key operation with a few decent accounts would be attractive to someone in the right position. Hey, someone was silly enough to give all that money for Milan, right? :)

 

[runawaytrain]

Vitran's way of handling business is to sweep problems under the rug. They never fixed equipment when they were upbeat about turning the company around. I cannot imagine Vitran fixing stuff before they sell it.

Seriously, the increase on maintenance seems to be the move of a company with an eye to the future.

Some drivers have mentioned the repairs being done to dock plates at other terminals, and speculate it is being done to put the terminals back in good working order before closing so the owner does not charge them for the damage. Some say the trucks are getting fixed so they can go back to the lease company. I can see both of those points of view. However, I have spoke to several mechanics at different terminals, and a mechanic foreman who all say a similar thing: all ABS repairs on trailers are being sent to a couple terminals specializing in ABS repair. Each repair will cost between $400 and $1500 and nearly every pup and most vans have no functioning ABS. The foreman said one shop is spending about $10,000 a week on ABS repair. To my knowledge Vitran owns the pups.

I guess it all comes down to how much investigating would be done by a possible buyer. It that buyer sent in a team to asses the equipment before an offer was made then fixing all this stuff before a sale would make sense, but fixing it all before closing makes no sense. Fixing it all to stay open and become profitable makes sense.

It can only mean they think we will stay open, or a sale is coming. I know some of you think a sale is absurd to think about, but a turn key operation with a few decent accounts would be attractive to someone in the right position. Hey, someone was silly enough to give all that money for Milan, right? :)

It makes sense Luci but I'm tired of getting beat up over that assumption. Most say we have no value. I disagree and choose not to argue on this issue. Maintenance all of a sudden after all these years of neglect decide to make these changes in the middle of our financial crisis. They are spending massive amounts of money. They are trying to show somebody that we take care of our equipment. I wonder why that is?

 

[had enough]

trucks being fixed is a warranty issue and does'nt cost the company anything. fixing dock plates can fall under safety issues and their being forced by OSHA or fixing to be able to sell or forced to if leasing.

 

[larmar]

corporate maintaince was at my terminal this week he plans on repairing dock plates and doors in october one curious he said good vehicles were being red tagged at some terminals

That is exactly how the red-tag system gets invalidated. Drivers tag good equipment each day so they keep it for the next day. Then pretty soon everybody figures it out and they don't check the equipment they just rip off the red tag and run it if it moves.

 

[had enough]

we have p&d drivers who come in an hr early and take a truck or call a l.h. driver and wait for the truck to come in, even if they're on the clock. they'll even take truck to go get a coffee or fuel it up and make a driver who's on the clock wait in line. just one of many things that drags this place down and puts us in the state we're in.

 

[undead]

I agree I see it everyday at my terminal

 

[lambofgod]

If vitran is doing all this maintenance now all of a sudden its because they have some potential buyers or investors. The trucks are always at the dealers getting fixed because they are junk. I would say someone like AAA cooper or southeastern might be interested only because of expanding its territory a little bit and gaining some new customers. Any overlapping terminals will be shut down and a handful of drivers would get a chance to apply to the new company. It would be a sad day if vitran would shut down..... but a long time coming with the way it was being operated.

 

[sparky10]

H.E. I started over and entry pay was $2.56 an hour more than I was making at the V insurance $70.00 a week cheaper same or better coverage and in 1 year I will have the same amount of vac and sick days. If I don't use sick time it rolls over. so maybe it would'nt be a bad thing.

 

[Popswasnatlman]

Vitran's way of handling business is to sweep problems under the rug. They never fixed equipment when they were upbeat about turning the company around. I cannot imagine Vitran fixing stuff before they sell it.

Seriously, the increase on maintenance seems to be the move of a company with an eye to the future.

Some drivers have mentioned the repairs being done to dock plates at other terminals, and speculate it is being done to put the terminals back in good working order before closing so the owner does not charge them for the damage. Some say the trucks are getting fixed so they can go back to the lease company. I can see both of those points of view. However, I have spoke to several mechanics at different terminals, and a mechanic foreman who all say a similar thing: all ABS repairs on trailers are being sent to a couple terminals specializing in ABS repair. Each repair will cost between $400 and $1500 and nearly every pup and most vans have no functioning ABS. The foreman said one shop is spending about $10,000 a week on ABS repair. To my knowledge Vitran owns the pups.

I guess it all comes down to how much investigating would be done by a possible buyer. It that buyer sent in a team to asses the equipment before an offer was made then fixing all this stuff before a sale would make sense, but fixing it all before closing makes no sense. Fixing it all to stay open and become profitable makes sense.

It can only mean they think we will stay open, or a sale is coming. I know some of you think a sale is absurd to think about, but a turn key operation with a few decent accounts would be attractive to someone in the right position. Hey, someone was silly enough to give all that money for Milan, right? :)

Vitran got Milan for less than 5 million dollars. Given the fact that we lease more terminals than we own and we lease most of our equipment that has any value at all , our value would constitute a fire side sale. How much would any company be willing to pay for Vitran? Would you purchase a Burger King franchise that had not made money in six years and was instead losing millions per year. Would you purchase this franchise if you knew you would have to put a half million dollars into it because it needed a roof, new ovens, new parking lot, new furnace and a/c units? If anyone is interested in us, it won't be to continue the company as Vitran. They will buy it to expand coverage and would close everything else and sell off any assets. My guess is that Canada is going to sell us at a fire side sale price of around 40 million dollars. This makes more sense than a spin off but time will tell and it will tell us before the snow flies up north.

 

[had enough]

H.E. I started over and entry pay was $2.56 an hour more than I was making at the V insurance $70.00 a week cheaper same or better coverage and in 1 year I will have the same amount of vac and sick days. If I don't use sick time it rolls over. so maybe it would'nt be a bad thing.

Vitran got Milan for less than 5 million dollars. Given the fact that we lease more terminals than we own and we lease most of our equipment that has any value at all , our value would constitute a fire side sale. How much would any company be willing to pay for Vitran? Would you purchase a Burger King franchise that had not made money in six years and was instead losing millions per year. Would you purchase this franchise if you knew you would have to put a half million dollars into it because it needed a roof, new ovens, new parking lot, new furnace and a/c units? If anyone is interested in us, it won't be to continue the company as Vitran. They will buy it to expand coverage and would close everything else and sell off any assets. My guess is that Canada is going to sell us at a fire side sale price of around 40 million dollars. This makes more sense than a spin off but time will tell and it will tell us before the snow flies up north.

sweet deal sparky, glad you got a better deal and especially telling corp all about it. pops, you're informative and tell it like it is. maybe the leased trucks are getting fixed before being turned in and the terminals getting fixed are the leased ones, just like people do before they turn their leased car in or get an expensive bill for damage repair. all i know is corp has been very quiet and are up to no good, like children when they're silent.