Mega carrier to close warehouse, lay off dozens of workers

One of the nation’s largest trucking companies announced that it will be closing a Pennsylvania warehouse and laying off dozens of workers during the holidays.

According to a letter sent on October 23 to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Swift-Knight Transportation subsidiary Swift Logistics LLC will be shuttering a warehouse facility in York, Pennsylvania, effective December 31, 2019.

As a result of the warehouse closure, 56 workers will be laid off on December 31.

According to the letter, “all affected employees have been notified of their separation dates and that their separation from employment will be permanent.”

During a recent statement to investors, Knight-Swift pointed to several factors that caused their adjusted operating income to fall more than 27% for the third quarter of 2019 from 2018, including “increased competition within the intermodal market, leading to unexpected reductions in volume and revenue per load, and greater than expected pressure on freight rates, primarily due to an oversupply of truckload capacity.”

Knight-Swift says that they “expect a seasonal improvement in demand during the fourth quarter of 2019, however, less robust than originally projected.”

So far in 2019, a number of trucking companies both large and small have declared bankruptcy, closed major divisions, or even shut down completely, including Falcon Transport, LME, and NEMF, and HVH Transport.