YRC Worldwide has filed a motion asking a court to dismiss a suit by rival less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight System, and said separately it will close 31 terminals around the country to reorganize its network and trim costs.
YRC’s New Penn Motor Express and USF Holland units filed the motion in the U.S. District court for the Western District of Arkansas to dismiss ABF’s suit which alleged that YRC’s recent deal with the Teamsters union violates the National Master Freight Agreement. (Click here for previous story.)
The Teamsters’ rank-and-file members approved the YRC deal by a wide margin. (Click here for previous story.)
It filed the motion “because ABF is not a party to the NMFA and, therefore, has no standing to challenge the NMFA or its amendments,” YRC said in a regulatory filing.
Separately, YRC said it will close 31 terminals as part of its ongoing plan to reorganize its national network of LTL terminals, according to a document submitted by the company to the Teamsters union.
YRC expects terminal closures to begin in mid-December and conclude in mid-January, a company spokeswoman told Transport Topics Wednesday.
“The effort should allow for greater density to some of the smaller economic areas and allow for improved transit times and overall service performance” the spokeswoman said.
As of Nov. 5, YRC was operating about 350 national service centers, Chairman and CEO William Zollars said during its third-quarter investor conference call.
YRC is ranked No. 4 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers. ABF Freight System’s parent company Arkansas Best Corp. is ranked No. 16.
