Kansas City-based Tiger Cool Express LLC has abruptly halted operations and closed its doors, effective immediately, according to a LinkedIn post from former Vice President of Sales Jared Nye, the Kansas City Business Journal reported on June 14.
Tiger Infrastructure Partners, the private equity group that owned the intermodal provider, “pulled its funding this week, forcing the company to close [June 13] and putting more than 50 people out of work,” a source with knowledge of the company’s operations who did not want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce June 14.
The carrier of refrigerated perishable products, which the Journal of Commerce called “a victim of weak demand for domestic intermodal and low trucking rates that took away market share,” had been expanding its footprint in Washington State and Oregon, and had recently announced the opening of a Tri-Cities Logistics Center in Washington State, which was the 67-acre former Union Pacific (UP) Cold Connect facility in Wallula, Wash. But with Tiger Cool Express suddenly shutting down, the Tri-Logistics Center will need to quickly find a new operator, as UP “hoped to be in operation by August,” according to the Kansas City Business Journal report.
Tiger Cool Express had nearly 700 temperature controlled intermodal containers and was a major hauler of Washington State and Oregon products on BNSF Railway, including apples, potatoes, onions, frozen French fries, frozen vegetables, wine, beer, cherries, and various beverages and juices. The sudden loss in shipping capacity out of Washington State and Oregon will leave many agricultural and food companies “scrambling to find new temperature-controlled carriers to move their products,” according to the Kansas City Business Journal report.
Representatives from Tiger Cool Express, UP and BNSF did not respond to a Railway Age request for comment.
Source: Railway Age