KANSAS CITY — The death knell may have rung for troubled LTL giant YRC.

After maneuvering around bankruptcy over the last year with a series of cost cutting measures and restructuring agreements with creditors and the Teamsters, the company stated in its 10K filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that it faces a higher interest rate on deferred pension obligations owed by the company to the union.

As a result, "the Pension Fund Condition has not been satisfied" and "a Milestone Failure has occurred."

Without more concessions, YRC’s creditors could declare the company in default, forcing into bankruptcy.

If that were to happen, the company did say it "would seek protection under the U.S. bankruptcy code."

In the filing, YRC outlined several outcomes from Chapter 11, which could inevitably spell the end of the company:

Customers would likely stop using YRC to avoid the possibility of freight being stranded in the event YRC ceases operations.

"Suppliers may attempt to cancel our contracts or restrict ordinary credit terms" while "employees may become distracted from performance of their duties or more easily attracted to other career opportunities" and key executives would also be difficult to retain.
AS well, transactions would be subject to the prior approval of the bankruptcy court, "which may limit our ability to respond timely to certain events or take advantage of certain opportunities."

Standing to gain from all this, naturally, is ABF – YRC’s biggest rival.

The Ft. Smith, Ark.-based carrier tried to block YRC from completing its last labor restructuring agreement with the Teamsters, arguing that it gives it competitor a significant cost advantage over carriers with the same union.

Other large direct competitors like Con-Way and FedEx would also be the immediate beneficiaries if their rival went under.