New Century Transportation, which was founded by Harry Muhlschlegel in July 2000, immediately following Muhlschlegel’s sale of Jevic Transportation to Yellow in 1999, is shutting down.
A representative answering the phones at the company’s headquarters confirmed to FleetOwner that the firm was shutting down, but provided no additional details. Messages sent to company officials for further information on the shutdown have not been returned.
A spokesperson for the Workforce Investment Board in New Jersey also confirmed the company has shut down, as of 5 p.m. on Monday. She said New Century employed about 1,500 people in the state and had filed paperwork with the chamber in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies of a certain size to inform states and municipalities of large-scale layoffs.
According to the New Century website, the carrier has over 2,000 units offering a full range of over-the-road transportation services, including time-definite, dedicated, temperature-controlled and specialized less-than-truckload and truckload services.
As of June 3, the company’s Facebook page was still encouraging drivers to sign up for company newsletters. “To our drivers out there, just a reminder, we are still signing up your email addresses to receive our company newsletter and blogs. If you are interested in hearing about what’s going on at NCT and looking for some exciting news please send an email to [email protected] and we will add you,” the company wrote.
As of Tuesday morning, there had been no posting regarding a shutdown, but there had been plenty of messages posted on the site from other trucking firms letting New Century drivers know that they are hiring.
A member of truckingboards.com posted what is said to be a letter sent to company drivers on Monday. The letter states that “due to unforeseeable and dramatic change in business circumstances beyond its control, New Century Transportation Inc. (“NCT” or the “Company”) expects that it will permanently shut down its operations and all of its facilities, including the facility located at 45 East Park Drive, Westampton New Jersey, and will terminate all employees.”
The letter explained that a lender of NCT “unexpectedly declined to continue funding regular business operations” and after efforts to find additional sources of revenue or a sale of part or all of the company failed, New Century has been left with no options beyond filing bankruptcy.
According to the Better Business Bureau website in New Jersey, New Century Transportation is listed as “not BBB accredited” and “believed to be out of business.”
The company’s Twitter account, which offered a post as recently as Monday, is no longer active.
In 2010, New Century filed for an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. At the time, the filing listed the carrier’s fleet as including 987 company-owned tractors and 2,141 owned or leased trailers, including 887 temperature-controlled trailers.
“Since 2002, we have grown total revenues and Adjusted EBITDA at compound annual growth rates of 21.7% and 19.3%, respectively. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, we generated total revenues of $229.3 million, adjusted EBITDA of $22.7 million and net loss of $5.1 million,” the company wrote.
The company wrote in the filing that “due to covenants in our existing credit facility and certain provisions of our 9% subordinated notes due 2012 and our 7.5% senior subordinated notes due 2013 that will be triggered by this offering, we will first repay amounts under our existing credit facility, then repay amounts under our 9% subordinated notes due 2012 and our 7.5% senior subordinated notes due 2013. The remaining proceeds will be used to repay amounts under our 14% convertible subordinated notes due 2013. In the event any of our 14% convertible subordinated notes due 2013 are converted to common stock prior to the consummation of the offering, the amount of the initial drawing under our new revolving credit facility will be reduced.”
It did not specify the funding amount New Century was seeking to raise and it is not clear if that IPO attempt is related in any way to the current financial situation.
According to Securities and Exchange filings, the company had previously filed for an IPO in 2007. Neither filing ever resulted in a sale of stock on any of the public exchanges.
