Investor Asks SCS to Sell Jevic Transportation

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major investor in less-than-truckload holding company SCS Transportation said Thursday it wants the corporation to sell one of its main operating companies, Jevic Transportation.

Starboard Value and Opportunity Master Fund said it owns 5.7% of SCS shares — enough to make it one of SCS’ five largest shareholders. Jeffrey Smith, the fund’s managing director, publicly released the letter he wrote to SCS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bert Trucksess.

Smith said that he and his partners “firmly believe that Jevic hinders the value of SCS in the market and that the company should immediately pursue a competitive sale process for Jevic.”

Trucksess told Transport Topics on Thursday that he has publicly stated that Jevic’s profits are not acceptable and that management is working to turn around financial performance at the unit.

SCS' board is “open to long-term solutions for Jevic,” Trucksess told TT.

Starboard also said it would run two candidates for seats on the SCS board of directors when SCS holds its annual meeting later this year.

SCS, Kansas City, Mo., ranks No. 24 on the TT 100 list of for-hire carriers and is the eighth-largest LTL carrier on the list.

In addition to Jevic, a specialty LTL carrier which also has truckload operations, the corporation also owns Saia Motor Freight Line, a general LTL company that Smith praised.