Annus Horribilis Continues With Teamsters' Hauler Strike
Just when Detroit thought it was safe to go back into the red ink-stained waters, the Teamster's union has stolen their swimsuits. (Or something like that.) Automotive News [sub] pinged-us with news of a strike at the nation's number two car delivery hauler: Performance Transportation Services (PTS). "The action comes after a bankruptcy court judge gave the suburban Detroit company permission to cut the pay of its union drivers by 15 percent. PTS is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years." This time 'round, it ain't just The Big 2.8 who could get slammed by a strike. PTS delivers an unknown percentage of its four million cars shipped annually to Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota dealers.
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
I'm sure most MFGRs have backup plans with the constant problems from PTS - as this was easily foreseeable.
New summer promotion: Factory delivery with free plant tour.
Car Hauling is not a easy segment to break into in the trucking business. Cars are quite fragile freight. One mistake and you have a $1-3k+ trip to the body shop. Loading the "Parking lot trailer" requires agility, stamina and skill. You have to load for maximum number of vehicles in route sequence while getting all of them to fit while staying legal on axle weights. You can't take someone fresh out of his 3-4 weeks of CDL training and have him be an effective driver in this segment. Swift (the Wal-Mart of trucking) tired to get into car hauling roughly 4-6 years ago and lost their shirt on claims. While you can fit 2-4 cars on a flatbed or step-deck, a true car hauler than can haul 6-9 vehicles is a quite specialized setup that can cost $200-300k new.
You're right, it has been a horrible anus.