A St. Louis trucking company and its equipment leasing affiliate recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing the “challenges of the freight market” as one of the main reasons they are seeking to reorganize.
Angie’s Transportation and sister company STL Equipment Leasing Co. of St. Louis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2024 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The filings come amid lawsuits filed against the companies by some of their lenders. According to court documents, the companies have defaulted on at least 10 purchase money loan agreements.
Angie’s Transportation was founded in 2012 by Angie Twardawa, who serves as CEO, and her brother, Rafael Twardawa, co-founder and director of operations. The company provides truckload and less-than-truckload refrigerated freight services, operates 80 power units, and has 60 drivers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.
Angie Twardawa is listed as the sole member of Angie’s Transportation and its affiliate STL Equipment Leasing Co., which was formed in March 2018.
“Like many others, our company was not immune to the challenges of the freight market. After careful consideration, we’ve filed for Chapter 11 as part of our strategy to restructure, strengthen our financial position and emerge more competitive and stronger,” Angie Twardawa said in a statement to FreightWaves.
Angie’s Transportation’s eight-page petition lists assets of up to $10 million and liabilities of between $500,000 and $1 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 49.
According to STL Equipment Leasing’s bankruptcy filing, it lists assets and liabilities as between $1 million and $10 million and states it has up to 49 creditors.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brian C. Walsh, who granted joint administration of Angie’s Transportation and STL Equipment Leasing’s Chapter 11 cases on Dec. 23, 2024, also approved the companies’ motion to extend the filing of its schedules of assets and liabilities and statements of financial affairs, which are due Monday.
“The commencement of these proceedings was precipitated by a variety of unforeseen factors, such as a number of major emergency repairs to the companies’ tractors and trailers, overall increases in operating costs such as fuel, shortages of skilled drivers, customers’ own financial troubles resulting in nonpayment to the companies, and a decrease in market demand for transportation services in 2023 and early 2024,” according to court filings.
Prior to filing for Chapter 11, Angie’s Transportation and STL Equipment “engaged in negotiations with various lenders for alternate resolutions, but [the] negotiations did not result in viable alternate resolutions.”
