Chattanooga, TN — One of the largest trucking companies in America dismissed a significant portion of its workforce this week.

Following a loss of more than $8.9 million in the first quarter of 2022, U.S. Xpress has laid off five percent of its employees.

In a statement explaining the move, Brad Carmony, vice president of communications, said the mega carrier’s truck count and revenue have not grown at the rate needed to sustain the current employee headcount.

“Unfortunately, this means that we made the decision to let some team members go this week,” Carmony stated. “While difficult, this decision reflects our need to right-size our head count for our truck count growth and is necessary for the health and long-term success of the business.”

The staff reductions mostly impacted the company’s information technology team as well as those working in back-office support roles.

“No driver, service center or maintenance roles were impacted,” Carmony confirmed.

On a conference call with industry analysts last week, U.S. Xpress CEO Eric Fuller did not paint a rosy picture about expectations in the months ahead.

“We don’t expect as favorable of a market in the coming quarters as we have seen a slowdown in freight demand exiting the first quarter,” Fuller said. “Consumers are feeling the pressure, whether from general cost inflation, higher interest rates or concerns around the geopolitical environment.”

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