Estes Is High Spender on Yellow Terminals in Latest Auction
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One-time stalking horse bidder Estes Express Lines was the biggest spender in the latest round of bidding for freight terminals owned or leased by bankrupt less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp., court documents show.
Showing its continued determination to acquire Yellow terminals, Estes won five leased terminals for a combined $35.35 million, according to documents filed Dec. 20.
The terminals are located in Sun Valley, Calif.; Tacoma, Wash.; Sparks, Nev.; St. Cloud, Minn.; and Wichita, Kan.
Estes Express ranks No. 14 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 5 on the LTL list.
A total of 23 leased properties were sold to six bidders for an aggregate price of $82.89 million, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware documents show.
TT’s top-ranked LTL carrier, FedEx Freight, paid the most for any one of the terminals up for sale. FedEx is to buy a leased terminal in Sparks, Nev., for $22.47 million.
Saia agreed to pay a combined $7.92 million for 11 properties in seven Western states. (Saia Inc.)
Saia Motor Freight Line won the most properties on offer, agreeing to pay a combined $7.92 million for 11 properties across seven Western states. Saia Inc. ranks No. 21 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 9 on the LTL list.
Ramar Land Corp. won three terminals for a combined $8.99 million. The property company is an affiliate of R+L Carriers, which ranks No. 18 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 8 on the LTL list.
ArcBest Property Management is set to pay $7.75 million for one terminal in Bethlehem, Pa. Parent company ArcBest Inc. ranks No. 12 on the for-hire TT100, and its ABT Freight unit ranks No. 7 on the LTL list.
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Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings bids totaling $417,150 succeeded in winning two terminals. Knight-Swift ranked No. 7 on the for-hire TT100 even before acquiring U.S. Xpress in March.
The auction took place Dec. 18-19.
A total of 118 leased properties and 46 owned properties remain to be sold. Some 21 of the leased properties are in California, the largest share by state. Of the remaining owned properties, three states each have three terminals still on the sales block: Alabama, Louisiana and Ohio.
The largest leased facilities remaining on offer are a 325-door terminal in Bloomington, Calif., a 274-door facility in Charlotte, N.C., and a 227-door terminal in Atlanta.
A court hearing to decide whether to approve the sales is scheduled for Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. EST.
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Absent from the list of winning bidders was XPO Inc., which emerged as the top bidder in the first round of the auction, which saw mostly owned properties find suitors.
In the first round, 128 of Yellow’s 169 owned properties were sold to 21 different buyers. This initial round brought an aggregate financial haul of nearly $1.9 billion.
XPO agreed to pay $870 million for 26 owned terminals and two leased properties.
Greenwich, Conn.-based XPO ranks No. 5 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 4 on the LTL list.
The overall price paid for terminals that found homes in the first round topped a $1.525 billion stalking horse bid for all the company’s terminals previously submitted by Estes by 19%.
Richmond, Va.-based Estes landed the second-largest number of terminals in the first auction, securing 24 owned terminals for a combined $248.72 million.
Saia was the winning bidder for 17 facilities, agreeing to pay a combined $235.7 million. Knight-Swift picked up 13 properties for $51.3 million.
Saia was the winning bidder of 17 auctioned Yellow terminals. The addition of these facilities to our network will enable us to provide enhanced service to both new and existing customers. Learn more here: https://t.co/s8mWoE3kpM pic.twitter.com/j6mA0P0zT7 — SaiaLTLFreight (@Saia_Inc) December 6, 2023
The first set of sales was approved by Judge Craig Goldblatt on Dec. 12.
At the time Yellow sought court protection from its creditors in August, the company ranked No. 13 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 3 on the LTL list.
