Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Certainly every trucker and traveler for that matter knows Flying J. They’ve been around for over 40 years. I prefer the term “truck stops” rather than travel centers, but whatever you want to call them, Flying J operates 250 of them here in the U.S. and Canada. Now, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, everything was going well with the “Hook” back in July, when oil was selling at about $145 a barrel. Then the price of oil dramatically fell $100. And FJ troubles started. Simply put, they didn’t have enough cash to cover their bills. They recently defaulted on $98 million in loans. FJ not only operates the truck stops, but also does business in oil exploration, production, distribution and refining. They employ 16,000 people and reportedly do an estimated $20 billion in sales per year. FJ estimates its liabilites between $100 – $500 million on assets valued at $1 billion. They will continue to operate their businesses in Chapter 11. For more details on the bankruptcy go to: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11288757?source=rss