The freight business is thinning out, and the paperwork proves it. Layoff notices and bankruptcy filings stacked up through October and into November, hitting warehouses, distribution centers, and small carriers alike. If you run car haulers, this is not background noise — one of the companies in liquidation hauls vehicles for a living.
The news
The Logistic News (published November 12, 2026), pulling together FreightWaves’ review of WARN notices and bankruptcy filings, reports that at least 10 companies announced workforce reductions totaling 1,021 positions between late October and November 11, 2026. The biggest single hit was National Distribution Centers, with 293 jobs tied to closures in Perris, California and Groveport, Ohio. DSV Contract Logistics announced 175 cuts in Edwardsville, Illinois after losing a customer contract, CEVA Supply Chain announced 120 in Lockbourne, Ohio, Amazon is closing its La Puente, California fulfillment center with 94 jobs affected, and Kenco announced 81 in Pennsylvania. Several of the cuts do not take effect until early 2027.
Most of those announced losses are in warehousing and distribution, not behind the wheel. That matters for how you read the numbers — this is freight volume and network money getting pulled back, not a sudden drop in driver jobs.
The bankruptcy side is moving faster. 15 transportation, distribution, and freight businesses filed Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 between September 14 and November 10, 2026 — and 13 of those 15 filed since October 19. The pace is accelerating, not leveling off.
The Chapter 7 liquidations — the kind where the business closes and the assets get sold — include small carriers: Winners Trucking Inc. of Dallas, Texas (filed October 21), Bruin Logistics LLC of Cicero, Illinois (filed November 9), and one-truck JYM Trucking Inc. of Florida (filed October 27). And right in our lane, Orlando-based RP3 Hauler Inc., a vehicle transport and interstate freight company, is also in liquidation proceedings.
What this means for car haulers
Capacity is leaving the market. Every carrier that exits takes trucks and trailers out of circulation. Over time, less capacity chasing the same freight firms up rates for the operators still standing. That is the long view, and it is real — shakeouts are how a soft market eventually corrects.
The near-term lesson is survival discipline. The carriers folding right now are not all bad operators — some lost a contract, some got caught with thin reserves when volume dipped. Know your true per-mile cost before anything else. Yesterday’s ATRI story pegged the industry average at $2.34 a mile; if you do not know your own number, you cannot tell a thin load from a losing one. Keep a cash reserve that covers a slow month or two, because the gap between a rough quarter and a filing is usually cash, not effort.
Be careful who you haul for. Cheap freight is bad enough. Cheap freight for a shaky broker who may not pay is how a small carrier becomes a statistic. Check who is on the other end of the load, keep your paperwork clean, and do not let one customer’s slow pay turn into your missed payment. If you are weighing equipment, payments, or a refinance while rates and credit are tight, look hard at the numbers first — our financing options page lays out what is available for car haulers before you sign anything.
This is not somebody else’s problem. A vehicle transport company — RP3 Hauler Inc. out of Orlando — is in liquidation proceedings on the same list as the warehouses and general freight carriers. Auto transport is not insulated from this shakeout. The operators who come through it will be the ones who knew their costs, protected their cash, and picked their freight and their customers with care.
Call Victor at 954-947-3096 — if you need equipment that earns its keep, or financing and coverage priced for the work you actually do, let’s talk.
Source: The Logistic News, “Freight Industry Under Pressure as More Than 1,000 Jobs Face Cuts and Bankruptcy Filings Increase” (published Nov. 12, 2026), compiling FreightWaves’ review of WARN notices and bankruptcy filings — https://thelogisticnews.com/freight-industry-under-pressure-as-more-than-1-000-jobs-face-cuts-and-bankruptcy-filings-increase/ . Job figures are announced reductions from WARN notices (many effective in early 2027), not completed layoffs.
