what about Celadon

[btemefordboy]

anyone know anything about this company? I was going to go with them just thought i would see if anyone has worked for them or still is

[marcel27208]

i dont know about them now, i drove in 02-04, alot of texas freight, use to run to laredo, tx alot until they built terminal south of dallas, then miles were cut short, they are ok got me home all the time when i needed and very consistent miles 2700-3300, pretty good company

[Skywalker]

Before I jumped on their bandwagon.....I would do alittle bit more research.

One of their primary focuses of late has been adding drivers from south of the border. Their CEO believes he can reduce their payroll significantly by hiring Mexican drivers. I can see if I can find the links to some of this information if you like.....

Out of curiosity, since you live in Topeka, why haven't you considered CFI? There are two terminals in your region....the main one in Joplin, and a yard in KC, MO.

[MOBee]

Before I jumped on their bandwagon.....I would do alittle bit more research.

One of their primary focuses of late has been adding drivers from south of the border. Their CEO believes he can reduce their payroll significantly by hiring Mexican drivers. I can see if I can find the links to some of this information if you like.....

Out of curiosity, since you live in Topeka, why haven't you considered CFI? There are two terminals in your region....the main one in Joplin, and a yard in KC, MO.

Looks like they pretty close to CFI. So what does your comment pertain to?

[homer]

skywalker is right.get with a company that is not trying to outsource our jobs and depress wages.cfi or crete is better

[Skywalker]

Looks like they pretty close to CFI. So what does your comment pertain to?

If I understand you correctly.... CFI is not at all like Celadon. Yes CFI has some hispanic drivers, however they are American Citizens, with the one exception that I know of, and he is a Mexican National with a US Green Card and his family has been living in the states for years.... He speaks better English than most Americans. CFI is not trying to replace its American drivers with foreigners. As far as the freight crossing the border for CFI it is done by Mexican Contract carriers who deliver it to either the terminals along the border or to brokers where a CFI tractor hooks it.

Celadon's CEO was recorded on film at a shareholders meeting expressing his desire to hire, and if I remember correctly the word he used was "XXXXXXX" who would work for far less than Americans. That amounts to a substantial difference in attitude and outlook as to their employees, and it appears that his sole concern is his pockets and that of their shareholders and everyone else, drivers included can "kiss off".

I edited out the word.... and I am going to try and locate the link that will explain it all.

[merrick4]

Here's the full text of an article I found on OOIDA:



Open the Border, Already!
by John Schulz
Traffic World
April 16, 2001

Celadon bets its future on Mexican carriage, truckersB2B.com Internet buying cooperative

No trucking company in America figures to gain more than Indianapolis-based Celadon from the full opening of the U.S.-Mexican border to all North American carriers. No trucking company in America figures to need it more desperately.

Celadon Group's stock has plummeted nearly 90 percent in the past year. It was trading at $33 last March when dot-com-crazed investors mistook the company for an Internet play because of its plans for something called "TruckersB2B," a cooperative buying service for small fleets. At press time last week, Celadon shares were trading around $3.50.

Even ING Barings, which managed Celadon's recent public securities offering and makes a market in the shares of the company, says Celadon is risky even with its current "strong buy" recommendation. A recent ING Barings summary of the company warns that although Celadon's shares are undervalued (its book value is $7.26), ownership "may be suitable for only small-cap, high-risk accounts given its limited float and financial position."

In short, no truckload carrier has suffered worse from the driver shortage than Celadon. It had four straight losing quarters last year when it could not find enough drivers for its trucks. For the 2000 fiscal year ended last June 30, it had a net loss of $2 million on $351.6 million revenue, compared with $4.8 million earnings on $281.8 million revenue in 1999.

Its trucking operation has seen a steady deterioration in operating ratio - from 93.1 in 1998, 94.6 in 1999 to 97.5 last year. That's because its fleet size remained static at around 1,950 seated tractors for the past two years. Celadon finally is breaking out of that slump. It revamped its driver-recruiting department last summer, already has added 100 new drivers this year and has plans for adding 100 later in the year.

"Fleet growth is critical," said David A. Shatto, Celadon's executive vice president of operations. He noted that every seated truck adds $4,000 a month to Celadon's bottom line.

Incorporated in 1986, Celadon was formed primarily to provide trucking services for Chrysler Corp. to and from its Mexican assembly plants (sic). Since that time, Celadon has grown to be largest U.S. carrier in and out of Mexico, moving 150,000 trailer loads annually south of the border. Cross-border traffic accounts for 65 percent of its business. Overall, Mexican traffic is growing at 17 percent a year, nearly twice the rate at what domestic truckload traffic is growing.

Celadon has been trying in the last few years to wean itself off the now DaimlerChrysler traffic. Through diversification, it is doing that. DaimlerChrysler represented 37 percent of Celadon's total revenue in 1998, but only 24 percent last year. That was a conscious decision as DaimlerChrysler increasingly has become known in the industry as a tough shipper on both original equipment inbound auto parts and after-market replacement parts. No other Celadon shipper accounts for more than 10 percent of its revenue. All the non-Chrysler business was up 8 percent in the most recent quarter, Celadon officials said.

President Bush has indicated he will abide by the North American Free Trade Agreement and open the U.S. border to Mexican trucks soon. When that happens, U.S. trucking companies will be able to go south as well. Celadon already is there with its Mexican subsidiary, Services de Transportacion Jaguar S.A.

"When it opens - six months, nine months - I don't know," Stephen Russell, Celadon chairman, president and CEO. "But it will open."

Besides avoiding the Schneiders and J.B. Hunts that dominate the east-west domestic truckload traffic in this country, Celadon's north-south strategy is well timed in the NAFTA age. It knows the territory south of the border, the customs and the infrastructure.

There also are hard economic gains through use of Mexican drivers. An American driver at Celadon earns on average 39.4 cents a mile, or 34 percent of its average rate of $1.17 a mile. But a Mexican driver earns just 11.8 cents a mile, or 15 percent of the average rate.

Celadon also has been on an acquisition binge. It bought the assets of General Electric Transportation Services for $8.2 million in 1997. In 1998, it acquired Gerth Transport of Canada. In 1999, it acquired Zipp Express to strengthen its Midwest position.

Those acquisitions have changed Celadon's driver mix as well. Prior to those acquisitions, 82 percent of Celadon's capacity was provided by company-owned and leased equipment. As of last June 30, owner-operators now account for 40 percent of its capacity. Of its 2,560 tractors as of last June 30, 1,024 were owner-operators.

Already in the past 90 days, some 3,600 mostly small fleets have ceased operations. That is not a huge number in a country with more than 200,000 trucking companies. But those closings have enabled large truckload carriers such as Celadon to alleviate their chronic driver shortage.

"There is no shortage of drivers," said Paul Will, Celadon's CFO. "There is a shortage of qualified drivers."

Celadon is hoping to get back into the black this fiscal year. Last year, its truckload operations posted $8.8 million operating income while TruckingB2B.com had a $4.7 million operating loss. But Celadon is weighted down by debt at $49.7 million, compared with $18.7 million in the 1999 fiscal year. It recently completed a $67 million credit agreement with ING (U.S.) Capital LLC. Net interest on that debt rose by $1.8 million last year, or 24.3 percent, to $9.2 million in fiscal 2000, compared with $7.4 million of interest expense in fiscal 1999, the company said.


Reprinted with permission from Traffic World


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[mowman]

The article was written in 2001. Things may have changed since then.

[btemefordboy]

i will let u know how they are now when i get to the orientation wed.

[homer]

[quote="mowman"]The article was written in 2001. Things may have changed since then. according to landline mag they were still trying to under cut us last year.thanx merrick and skywalker for trying to better the industry.