DALLAS (Oct. 10, 2002, via truckinginfo.com) — A group of investors is proposing to buy Consolidated Freightways Corp. and return the company’s trucks to the road by Nov. 1, according to a story this week in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Rollin’ International, a company created specifically to make the purchase, has offered $500 million US for the 73-year-old trucking company, spokesman Frank Snell told the newspaper.

Snell would not identify the parties behind Rollin’ International, but said investors from Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, represent about 40% of the group, with the rest coming from elsewhere in the United States and Mexico.

“We believe that the company, properly managed, will be a profitable company,” Snell said, noting that the company’s operations would be scaled back and some of its aging equipment sold. To do so would require concessions from the Teamsters, which represents drivers and freight handlers at the company, Snell added.

“Our objective is to get operations back, get trucks on the road in some form or fashion by Nov. 1,” Snell said.

Consolidated Freightways filed for bankruptcy protection last month and promptly fired the bulk of its 15,500 workers. The Vancouver, Wash.-based less-than-truckload specialist has 350 terminals and 30,000 trucks in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Snell did not comment on the company’s Canadian Freightways division, which is operationally and financially independent of Consolidated Freightways. It serves the United States through its Click Express and Epic Express divisions, as well as interline agreements.

He did say the $500 million offer included airfreight division of Consolidated Freightways.

Consolidated Freightways spokesman Mike Brown said the company hasn’t stated a preference between selling its entire business or dismantling it. He indicated that several potential buyers have expressed interest in the company’s assets, although none have proposed a full-scale purchase.