Business

Illinois trucking company with 171 drivers files for bankruptcy

March 14, 2024 2 min read

An Illinois trucking company with 183 trucks and 171 drivers recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Founded in June 2010, Nationwide Cargo Inc. of East Dundee, Illinois, hauls general freight, fresh produce and meat, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.

The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday, lists Hristo Angelov as the president of Nationwide Cargo.

No reason was given as to why the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, but it seeks to reorganize, according to the petition.

Nationwide Cargo lists its assets as between $1 million and $10 million and its liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 49 but states that funds will not be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

Angelov’s attorney, David D. Leibowitz, did not respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment as of publication.

Nationwide Cargo’s trucks had been inspected 185 times and 48 had been placed out of service in a 24-month period, resulting in a nearly 26% 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 457 times over the same 24-month period, with 18 drivers being placed out of service, resulting in a nearly 4% out-of-service rate. This is 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 12 injury crashes and 18 tow-aways.

The carrier’s gross revenues from Jan. 1 until its bankruptcy filing date are nearly $9.3 million. Its petition states the company made around $40 million in 2023 and nearly $34 million in ’22.

According to the petition, Nationwide Cargo’s shareholders Angelov, Peter Trendafilov and Peter Panteleymenov each took a shareholder draw of $10,000 in December.

The petition states that a payment of $200,000 was made in December to Five Star Garage, also located in East Dundee. According to the Illinois secretary of state’s business entity search, Five Star Garage is owned by Angelov.

The trucking company is involved in three pending lawsuits in Tennessee, Illinois and Arizona.

The three largest creditors with secured claims listed in the petition are Equify Financial LLC of Fort Worth, Texas, owed more than $3.5 million; Commercial Credit Group Inc. of Naperville, Illinois, owed nearly $1.8 million; and Continental Bank N.A. of Salt Lake City, owed nearly $676,000.

A creditors meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet.

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