Freight Broker Files Bankruptcy Owing 58 Small Trucking Companies Thousands

A freight broker out of Mississippi has filed bankruptcy leaving dozens of carriers wondering "What the f!@k do I do now?"

Transplus Freight Systems LLC, based out of Hernando, MS filed its voluntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 14th, according to court documents. According to their filing, Transplus owes just over $114,000 to a total of 58 carriers, with the average carrier owed roughly $2000. The company also owes over $70,000 to companies involved in technology.

The largest unsecured creditor listed on the petition is Shannon Robinson, with $2,996,066.20. Interestingly, according to filings with the Mississippi Secretary of State, a Shannon Robinson is listed as the president of Transplus Freight Systems. A social media account also links Robinson to Transplus. According to publicly available data, Transplus received $101,404 in a PPP loan to retain 20 employees in 2021. The address listed in this database is a large residential property connected to other companies in the transportation industry, that also received PPP loans in 2020 to retain employees. It is unclear how many "employees" worked out of the home.

What is startling about this filing is how many small carriers are impacted by Transplus Freight's bankruptcy, and the balance due to these carriers. According to the filing, many of these carriers utilize freight factoring companies. As you may or may not know, this means the freight factoring company likely paid out the carrier for the load, and now, depending on the factoring agreement, will likely want that money back.

Transplus was supposed to file additional documents with the court today, however, their attorney filed a motion late Wednesday asking the court to extend their deadline, stating they initially filed the filing for relief on the 14th "to avoid more costly litigation in state court actions" and needed additional time to complete the required documentation.