Latest details have emerged about Tiger Cool Express’ financial health leading as much as the corporate’s abrupt closure on Tuesday.
A source conversant in the situation on the now-shuttered refrigerated rail shipping and logistics firm said Tiger Cool Express refinanced its equipment with Wells Fargo Bank a couple of years ago. The corporate had greater than 700 53-foot temperature-controlled containers in its fleet, hauling produce, wine and frozen goods.
The corporate was doing well until last spring, when the refrigerated market “blew a tire” and volumes dropped significantly, which contributed to Tiger Cool Express falling behind on its loan payment to Wells Fargo, in line with the source.
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Since Tiger Cool Express allegedly “broke its financial covenants” with Wells Fargo over the missed payments, the bank requested that the leased equipment be returned, the source said.
On Friday, Wells Fargo spokesperson Melissa Eckmann confirmed that Tiger Cool Express is a customer but declined to share any details in regards to the company’s financial state.
Tiger Cool Express, which opened its doors in 2013, received $15 million from private equity firm Tiger Infrastructure Partners, which has offices in Latest York and London.
Emily Nevins, an executive assistant at Tiger Infrastructure Partners, said the private equity firm is aware of the situation at Tiger Cool Express but has no plans to issue an announcement. Other executives at Tiger Infrastructure Partners didn’t reply to FreightWaves’ request for comment.
Tiger Cool Express executives, including Steve Van Kirk, CEO; Leslie Baird, chief business officer; and Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer, are also remaining silent in regards to the closure of the logistics company. All three declined FreightWaves’ requests to be interviewed for this story.
One former Tiger Cool Express employee told FreightWaves that employees were fired during a Zoom meeting on Tuesday. The Kansas City Business Journal was the primary news outlet to report on company’s closure.
Expansion plan hits the skids
Two months after Tiger Cool Express hosted a media day on April 12 to announce the longer term opening of Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center in Wallula, Washington, which was slated to open this month, the corporate abruptly pumped the brakes on the project and shut down the logistics company.
The source who spoke to FreightWaves claims the corporate was going to be unable to pay its contractors for construction work on the intermodal terminal due to ongoing money constraints.
Patrick Reay, executive director on the Port of Walla Walla, said he came upon Tiger Cool Express was ceasing operations from various news outlets.
He said the port’s only involvement is that it owns the rail line that may be utilized for the intermodal facility. He added that the port “isn’t involved on the operations side of things.”
“We’re hopeful that latest investors get entangled and reconstitute the concept since it’s definitely a profit to the Northwest,” Reay told FreightWaves.
In December 2022, Tiger Cool Express signed a lease-purchase agreement to amass the previous Union Pacific Cold Connect warehouse, some property and to construct an adjoining intermodal ramp in Wallula, Washington.
In a press release issued in January in regards to the agreement reached between Tiger Cool Express and Union Pacific Railroad to create Tiger Tri-Cities Logistics Center, Prince said the power “has the potential to be a ‘triple threat.’”
Tiger Cool Express’ Van Kirk was also quoted in the discharge in regards to the project, stating, “Despite our continued growth and fleet expansion, we realize that the Pacific Northwest offers transformational potential for our company.”
Reay said the buildings had remained closed since May 2020, when Union Pacific announced it was shuttering its Cold Connect refrigerated division and its Cold Connect warehouses in Wallula, Delano, California and Rotterdam, Latest York, citing “sluggish market conditions in consequence of COVID-19.
In 2017, Union Pacific acquired Railex LLC’s cold storage facilities and terminals. Railex raised $58 million through a public-private partnership in 2006 to fund its expansive infrastructure project to launch a cross-country refrigerated rail service.
One former Tiger Cool Express employee thought the corporate was on solid footing after the corporate announced the cope with UP. The ex-employee hopes that Tiger Cool Express’ management team and/or Tiger Infrastructure Partners issues an announcement soon to elucidate what caused the logistics firm to fold.
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