The first quarter of 2008 brought the highest rate of trucking industry bankruptcy filings in seven years, and the second quarter is shaping up to be even worse. There has been a flurry of new bankruptcy filings, hastened by lower commercial demand and soaring prices for diesel fuel. A report by investment banking firm Avondale Partners calculates that 925 trucking firms shut down in the first quarter of 2008, thanks mostly to the inability of trucking firms to collect fuel surcharges at a pace even approaching increases in retail diesel prices. Avondale estimates that 42,000 trucks - about 2% of the country's heavy-duty fleet - were taken off the road in the quarter, with small firms most adversely impacted. A major heavy-duty fleet serving the East Coast is among the latest casualties. Delanco, N. J.-based Jevic Transportation, which boasts a fleet of nearly 1,200 vehicles, filed Chapter 11 papers on May 20 after announcing that it was going out of business.
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