Dive Brief:
- LTL bidders seeking Yellow Corp.’s coveted terminals could meet a variety of needs, especially in areas where real estate is considerably expensive, analysts said.
- Nearby facilities could be obtained to provide a larger space, or even to get property where a truck can make a right-hand turn instead of left, providing opportunities to make a network more fluid, Stephens’ Jack Atkins said.
- In high-density areas, lack of available land, high costs for parcels and zoning restrictions can preclude terminal development, Craig Decker of Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. wrote in an email to Transport Dive.
Dive Insight:
Billion-plus dollar bids from Estes Express Lines and Old Dominion Freight Line could secure Yellow’s more than 160 owned terminals.
LTL carriers might want to expand to an area or secure a terminal to bring it online later in the future, analysts said.
And a bidder might acquire a terminal and sell an existing facility in an area. That means a successful bid could still create opportunities for other business in the future.
TFI International CEO, Chairman and President Alain Bédard noted interest in acquiring some Yellow assets on an Aug. 1 earnings call, prior to Yellow’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. He cited one example of interest as a terminal in Florida near a TFI location.
But Bédard also suggested at the time that major bids wouldn’t come from the Canada-based LTL provider.
“There are a whole host of things can happen here,” Atkins said. “And we'll see how that kind of plays out.”
