YRC Worldwide to Sell 61 Truck Terminals

Looking for cross-dock capacity? YRC Worldwide and NRC Realty & Capital Advisors have plenty of capacity to offer the right bidders — 2,299 terminal doors.

The $4.3 billion trucking giant wants to sell 61 “surplus” terminals in a “buy one, some or all” sealed-bid auction that will be completed by March 15. The auction comes as YRC plans to overhaul its remaining network of about 300 terminals to speed freight flow by eliminating unnecessary handling.

YRC Worldwide has struggled to match its network with freight demand since 2006, shedding terminals as it suffered more than $2.5 billion in losses. Most of the terminals being auctioned are not part of YRC’s active less-than-truckload network, but closed sites the company hasn’t been able to sell.

“Some of these sites have been on the market for over three years, and YRC Worldwide is marking them down to sell,” said CFO Jamie Pierson.

The terminals up for bid range from a six-door facility in Temple, Texas to a 349-door cross-dock complex in Kernersville, N.C., according to NRC’s online listing. After Kernersville, the largest terminals up for grabs are in Toledo, Ohio, with 204 doors, Buffalo, N.Y., a 141-door site, and Los Angeles, with 126 doors.

Most of the terminals in the lot were built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, with a smaller number that were built or upgraded significantly in the 1990s. The facilities have been vacant since the consolidation of Yellow Transportation and Roadway into YRC in 2009, which made hundreds of terminals redundant.

“Our vacant sites are currently a liability with substantial holding cost, maintenance and real estate taxes”, said Pierson, named YRC Worldwide CFO in November.

“We have chosen the auction process to monetize these properties and turn a liability into an asset which can be quickly reinvested in our business,” he said.

Eleven of the terminals were listed as “in use,” though it wasn’t immediately clear if they were being used in some fashion by YRC or by a lessee company.

-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @wbcassidy_joc.