A family-owned Missouri trucking company with 265 trucks and 255 drivers recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Founded in 1983 by Randall Walker, RBX Inc. of Strafford, Missouri, hauls general freight, beverages and paper products, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.
The petition, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri, on Friday, lists James A. Keltner as CEO of RBX.
No reason was given as to why the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, but it seeks to reorganize, according to the petition.
RBX, which hauls freight through the Midwest and Southeast, lists its assets as up to $50,000 and its liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 199 but did not include the amounts they are owed in its bare-bones petition.
The company states that funds will not be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.
FreightWaves has reached out to RBX’s bankruptcy attorney, Sharon L. Stolte, for comment.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brian T. Fenimore has ordered RBX to submit the company’s schedules of assets and liabilities as well as its statement of financial affairs with the court by Dec. 27.
RBX’s trucks had been inspected 148 times, and 37 had been placed out of service in a 24-month period, resulting in a 25% out-of-service rate. This is higher than the industry’s national average of around 22.3%, according to FMCSA.
The trucking company’s drivers had been inspected 360 times over the same 24-month period, with seven drivers being placed out of service, resulting in a nearly 2% out-of-service rate. This is significantly lower than the national average of around 6.7%, according to FMCSA.
In the past two years, the company’s trucks had been involved in two fatal and eight injury crashes and 17 tow-aways.
As to preliminary matters, Fenimore has ordered RBX to consult with the U.S. trustee and to “open and use only bank accounts identified as debtor-in-possession accounts.” RBX is also ordered to file all postpetition financial and other reports and allow the U.S. trustee “to inspect [RBX’s] business premises, books and other records” after a scheduling order has been agreed to by RBX and the U.S. trustee’s office.
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