Arrow Trucking Suddenly Shuts Down

By Frederick Kiel, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Jan. 4 print edition of Transport Topics.

Flatbed carrier Arrow Trucking Co. closed suddenly Dec. 22, shutting off its fuel cards and leaving an unknown number of drivers for its 1,400 trucks stranded around the country, industry and federal officials have said.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an “Emergency Order” Dec. 24, saying that the company must tell drivers to take trucks to “appropriate facilities for . . . safe and orderly transfer.”

FMCSA’s order cited “the threat to public safety posed by the potential abandonment, or improper parking of, and/or lack of attendance to, over 1,000 commercial motor vehicles around the United States, some of which may be carrying hazardous material.”

Several organizations launched efforts to help drivers and shippers.

“It’s shocking how Arrow has handled this situation by not making any public statements and basically stranding their drivers and loads around the country,” Wayne Johnson, highway transportation chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League, told Transport Topics. “It’s totally unprofessional.”

On Dec. 22, about 200 employees at Arrow’s headquarters in Tulsa, Okla., were told that the company was suspending operations and were sent home immediately, the Tulsa World newspaper reported.

All company telephone numbers on its Web site that Transport Topics called had a recorded message telling company drivers who had Freightliner or Kenworth trucks to drive to the nearest dealership, where they would receive a bus ticket home. Drivers of Navistar Inc.’s International trucks were told to call back later for further information.

No reason for the statements was given, nor did the message tell drivers that Arrow had suspended operations.

The Tulsa World newspaper published an interview Dec. 29 with James Sturdivant, the lawyer of Carol Pielsticker, owner of Arrow and mother of CEO Douglas Pielsticker.

“It is a very unfortunate and awful situation, and we’re trying to figure out what to do,” Sturdivant told the newspaper. “Ms. Pielsticker is extremely saddened by what has happened and the terrible impact it has had on Arrow employees and Arrow itself.”

Calls to Sturdivant by TT were not returned by press time.

Dan Case, executive director of the Oklahoma Trucking Association, of which Arrow is a member, said he had seen no public announcement of the company’s plans.

“Steve Savage, an Arrow vice president who’s also on the board of the Oklahoma Trucking Association, called me [Dec. 22] to say that they were closing, but he didn’t give a reason why, or whether it was permanent,” Case told TT.

On Dec. 28, OTA put a page on its Web site to help Arrow drivers and other employees get home or find work. Nearly 40 companies said they were willing to hire Arrow employees.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association took similar action.

“Arrow drivers were stranded all over the country with suddenly invalid fuel cards,” OOIDA spokeswoman Norita Taylor told TT.

“We decided the fastest way to help them was to set up a Facebook page to connect Arrow drivers and people willing to assist them, named ‘Support for Stranded Arrow Drivers,’” Taylor said. The site had more than 5,700 members on Dec. 28.

“We’re also ready to take phone calls from stranded drivers to help them,” Taylor said. “We’re also asking them to call us once they get home safely.”

FMCSA said that Arrow Trucking has filed for bankruptcy protection, but everyone who talked to TT said they have yet to see any public statements by Arrow officials.

“Lots of companies have gone out of business in recent years, but I’ve never seen a case where so many people were left stranded, having their fuel cards cut off and the only message from management was to take their trucks to a dealership,” Taylor said.

Jack Ferry, spokesman for Daimler Truck Financial, the financial arm of Daimler Trucks North America, which builds Freightliner trucks, told TT that Arrow depended upon one bank for day-to-day financing, but the bank abruptly cut off further credit, forcing Arrow to close, at least temporarily.

Daimler financed about 1,000 Freightliner tractors in Arrow’s inventory, Ferry said, and has established a toll-free phone number for Arrow drivers and customers whose loads were caught in transit. The number is 877-294-9679.

Daimler was offering a free bus ticket to the driver’s home town or $200 to cover the cost of personal transportation. Where possible, Daimler would inform customers where their loads were located, Ferry said.

“We’ve recovered 580 trucks as of Dec. 28 and we expect to retrieve most of the rest this week,” he said.

Navistar also offered drivers bus fare home.

Johnson of the National Industrial Transportation League said the League was encouraging its members to assist others in getting drivers home and recovering loads.

“Our members are doing a good job of reclaiming their freight and getting it delivered, either by sending out their own trucks or being assisted by other members,” Johnson said.

Arrow Trucking was tied for No. 99 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada.