Dive Brief:
- Cal Freight Holdings acquired a former Ruan terminal last month in Tulare, California, at 754 S. Blackstone St., which features truck parking, an office and a shop building, according to a county deed. The buyer has the same address as the carrier California Freight.
- The transfer tax for the sale was $5,830, according to a Tulare County Clerk worker. That suggests California Freight bought the property for $5.3 million. Ruan Procurement Coordinator Brandon Timmerman confirmed the sale.
- The trucking facility was up for sale as Ruan laid off workers and shuttered the Central San Joaquin Valley site and another property in Turlock, California, in early 2024, according to the company.
Dive Insight:
Ruan purchased Tulare-based Kings County Truck Lines in 2006, securing the terminal, along with 11 others across California, Oregon, Idaho and Arizona.
The expansion meant there were some 500 Ruan bulk tank drivers in the coverage area at one point, according to Teamsters representative Odus Hall. He’s the business agent for Local 948, according to a union website and organizational filing.
But downsizing occurred throughout the years, Hall told Trucking Dive in February. Eventually, layoffs from the Iowa-headquartered Ruan shuttered the two work sites in early January.
Ruan was unable to secure a rate high enough to justify continuing a contract with a dairy farm cooperative called California Dairies Inc., Hall said.
The carrier guaranteed pay for two months before the layoffs, he said.
