ANR Closing Seen Near Despite Firm's Denial

ANR Advance Transportation appears to be out of business, despite denials by an official of the Milwaukee-based carrier.

Less-than-truckoad operations were halted Dec. 8, when 1,400 drivers and dock workers walked off the job in a contract dispute with the Teamsters union. The union halted picketing Dec. 15, but ANR Advance has not resumed any LTL service.

According to Melvin R. Nensel, vice president of labor for ANR Advance, media reports that the company had shut down are “grossly inacurrate.”

In a letter addressed to a reporter for the Journal of Commerce and posted on the company’s Web site, Mr. Nensel said, “Certainly the Teamsters strike has crippled us and may make resumption of operations a tremendous task, but you are grossly inaccurate in saying ANR Advance ‘has shut its doors’ or ‘closed its less-than-truckload operations.’ ”

A Teamsters spokesman said a similar message was sent by the company to its employees last week. Union officials previously said that pickets were withdrawn because the company was not expected to remain in business (TT, 12-28-98, p. 1).

Neither Mr. Nensel nor ANR Advance President Larry R. Jouett could be reached for additional comment as of Dec. 29.

According to Hervey H. Aitken Jr., an attorney and Teamsters pension expert in Alexandria, Va., there may be a good reason for ANR Advance to wait until 1999 to go out of business.

Nearly all Teamsters-represented trucking companies participate in multiemployer pension funds that have significant withdrawal liabilities. When a company goes out of business, the owner is assessed a portion of the unfunded pension liability to cover the future cost of providing benefits to its former employees.

For the full story, see the Jan. 4 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.