EVO Transportation and Energy Services Inc. (OTC Pink: EVOA) will permanently close its facility in Austin, Texas, by Jan. 9, according to a notice sent to state officials Friday.
The Phoenix-based trucking company will lay off 104 employees, “due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances caused by a large client unexpectedly notifying EVO that it had chosen a new contractor,” according to documents filed Friday.
EVO Transportation is a nationwide transportation operator for the U.S. Postal Service, according to its website. The company operated a nationwide fleet of 1,100 tractor-trailers and employed as many as 1,400 people at one time.
In May, EVO Transportation was asked to return $10 million it had received under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the chairman of the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, sent a letter to EVO Chief Executive Officer Tom Abood stating the PPP funds were not for companies like EVO.
“We did not intend for these funds to be used by large corporations that have a substantial investor base and access to capital markets,” Clyburn wrote in the April 30 letter.
Officials with EVO Transportation chose not to return the money.
“As an essential service provider to the United States Postal Service and other shipping customers, the payroll funding enabled EVO to continue its operations at a time of financial strain and severe market dislocation,” EVO officials said in a statement on May 9. “EVO is made up of multi-generational American businesses employing drivers, dispatchers, mechanics and support personnel who have served USPS and other shippers for decades.”
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