YRC’s Performance Improving as Firm Cuts Costs, Zollars Say

This story appears in the May 25 print edition of Transport Topics.

YRC Worldwide Inc. has received relief from lenders who waived an earnings target for the second quarter, and company head William Zollars said the less-than-truckload carrier’s performance is improving because of several cost-cutting moves, including potential pension-payment relief from the Teamsters union.

The company acknowledged reports that the unionized less-than-truckload carrier also is considering an application for $1 billion in aid from the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program to defray pension costs that currently are a cash drain.

“We are in the process of finishing negotiations with pension funds,” said Zollars, chief executive officer. He declined to give a date when he expected those talks would conclude. YRC hopes to save cash by replacing cash pension payments, now ranging from $34 million to $45 million a month, with pledging of real estate collateral.

Zollars, who spoke May 19 at the Wolfe Research Global Transportation Conference here, said the company was making progress in recovering business diverted when its Roadway and Yellow Transportation LTL units were integrated two months ago. The company has regained three to four percentage points of the 11% business reduction attributed to concerns about the integration process, he said.

“We would expect, as we move through the second quarter, more and more business will return,” Zollars said. He said the company’s operating loss was “60-ish” million dollars in April. Full Story.........