Estes, R+L Carriers Affiliate Buy More Ex-Yellow Terminals
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Estes Express Lines and an affiliate of R+L Carriers are to buy more terminals from the administrators of bankrupt former less-than-truckload rival Yellow Corp., according to a Dec. 10 court filing.
Richmond, Va.-based Estes and Ramar Land Corp. are to pay a combined $192.5 million for eight owned properties and four leased terminal sites, the court filing shows, outside a third series of real estate auctions.
Estes will pay $142.5 million for seven owned properties and the four leased terminals with a combined 939 doors.
The seven owned properties are:
- A 167-door, 52.7-acre Tracy, Calif., terminal
- A 75-door, 13.5-acre Fort Wayne, Ind., site
- An 80-door, 21.9-acre Jeffersonville, Ind., facility
- A 136-door Hagerstown, Md., terminal on a 39.2-acre site
- A 67-door, 8.6-acre Omaha, Neb., facility
- A 216-door terminal in Cincinnati on 42.9 acres
- A 198-door, 95-acre Ringgold, Ga., site
The four leased properties are in Norway, Mich.; Dunmore, Pa.; Miami; and Orange, Calif.
Ramar Land Corp. will pay $50 million for one owned terminal, a 304-door, 51.2-acre Maybrook, N.Y., facility.
The Maybrook facility was the second-largest owned property available in the third auction of Yellow real estate.
A total of 47 owned terminals and 65 leased properties with more than 3,100 and 4,000 doors, respectively, were on offer.
The biggest of the owned properties up for sale was a 426-door, 103.6-acre facility in Chicago Heights, Ill.
The largest of the leased properties on offer was a 325-door, 54.2-acre facility in Bloomington, Calif., followed by a 193-door, 55.8-acre site in Kansas City, Mo. A total of 16 of the leased properties were in California, or 25%.
An auction of remaining Yellow properties will be held Jan. 13-15. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press)
Two previous rounds of auctions raised $1.88 billion and $82.89 million through the sale of 128 and 23 of Yellow’s owned and leased terminals, respectively.
Before Yellow’s demise, it ranked No. 13 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 3 on the LTL list, behind only FedEx Freight and Old Dominion Freight Line.
Estes moved up a spot on the 2024 LTL list to No. 4 as a result of picking up ex-Yellow terminals. It is No. 11 on the for-hire TT100. Estes, which submitted two stalking horse bids for all the terminals, was the biggest spender in the second auction.
Estes won five leased terminals for a combined $35.35 million in the second auction on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, 2023.
Lori Heino-Royer of Waabi discusses the latest developments, breakthroughs and key industry partnerships in autonomous trucking. Tune in above or by going to RoadSigns.ttnews.com.
The terminals are located in Sun Valley, Calif.; Tacoma, Wash.; Sparks, Nev.; St. Cloud, Minn.; and Wichita, Kan.
Estes landed the second-largest number of terminals in the first auction, securing 24 owned terminals for a combined $248.72 million. In the first auction, Ramar won the fifth-largest haul of terminals, eight, and paid the fourth-largest combined sum for those properties at $211.5 million.
Ramar then won three terminals for a combined $8.99 million in the second auction.
The property company is an affiliate of R+L Carriers, which ranks No. 17 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 5 on the LTL list, up from No. 8 a year earlier.
Estes’ and Ramar’s purchases follow a request for nonbinding bids for all the Yellow real estate left over from the previous auctions. The deadline for this was Oct. 18. A binding bid deadline for the remaining facilities is Jan. 6. An auction of the remaining properties will be held Jan. 13-15.
After the nonbinding deadline closed, the administrators held private negotiations with Estes and R&L. Deals were inked Dec. 6. Previously, the properties were held out of the initial auctions Nov. 28-30, 2023.
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
