Stevens Transport shuttering tanker division, laying off 550 drivers

[kscarbel2]

Matt Cole, Commercial Carrier Journal (CCJ)  /  October 10, 2019

One of the largest fleets in the country, Stevens Transport, announced it is shuttering its Dallas, Texas-based oilfield tanker fleet, effective Tuesday, Oct. 15, according to a notice submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission. The closure will put more than 550 truck drivers out of work.

Stevens Tanker Division, a subsidiary of Stevens Transport (No. 38 on the CCJ Top 250), submitted a WARN notice to the state of Texas on Sept. 26 stating it would be ceasing all operations at all 12 of its locations in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety Measurement System, Stevens Tanker has 576 drivers and 853 trucks.

The WARN notice indicates 586 employees will be laid off at nine Texas locations – the majority of which (367) are employed at the company’s Stockdale, Texas, facility east of San Antonio. It’s unclear how many employees will be affected at two Louisiana and one Oklahoma location.

Attempts to reach Stevens Tanker for comment on the closure have not been returned as of Wednesday afternoon. A photo circulating on social media of a purported memo to Stevens Tanker employees states the oil and gas industry has slowed down since December 2018, adding that the company has seen a 65% reduction in sand orders since Sept. 20.

Stevens Tanker Division has hauled water and sand for oil and gas companies in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico.

Stevens is the second major fleet this month to announce a downsizing effort. Roadrunner Systems (No. 31 in the CCJ Top 250) announced late last month that it was downsizing its dry van division and would lay off 450 drivers. Likewise, multiple large fleets this year have abruptly shuttered operations.

[david wild]

Isn't it funny under Obama we could spend bunches of money to buy gas for our cars and trucks and it was all imported oil, but 3 years under Trump we produce so much of our own oil that we are now having layoffs in the oil field for having to much oil??? Just one more example of the treason Obama committed against the American people that gets covered up, Trump wants to investigate corruption in Ukraine and the Obama team (Liberal Democrats) want him gone??? And if you think that Obama did not sell out American coal for the benefit of third world nations your a moron, he screwed us to help his baboon farmer nations have cheap energy while we got stuffed with gas, and NO it was NOT about clean air it was about helping other nations at the expense of the American tax payer. Warren/Sander will bankrupt this nation and that is the plan, to make us no better than any other nation. Our new national slogan will be, America just another shit hole. 

[kscarbel2]

The U.S. doesn't need to import any oil at all now. However, it still does, unfortunately, because certain American and foreign businessmen profit more from doing so.