ArcBest has rejoined the Yellow Corp. liquidation storyline, agreeing to buy a small Alabama outpost while the bankrupt carrier’s estate seeks court approval to unload three other terminals to real estate investors. A motion filed this week in Delaware shows four properties valued at $6.1 million headed for disposition, with ArcBest set to acquire an 18‑door service center in Montgomery for $375,000. The remaining sites on the block include a 92‑door terminal just north of Providence, R.I. ($2.75 million), a 45‑door facility in Jacksonville, Fla. ($2.6 million) and a 24‑door terminal in Florence, S.C. ($375,000).
Price-per-door math underscores how late-stage Yellow assets are clearing: roughly $20,800 per door in Montgomery, $29,900 in the Providence market, $57,800 in Jacksonville and $15,600 in Florence. Those numbers reflect the reality that what’s left tends to be smaller or harder-to-repurpose real estate. For carriers, it means opportunistic fill-in buys (like ArcBest’s Alabama site) coexist with doors leaving the LTL pool altogether when non-transport buyers prevail.
Strategically, Montgomery looks like a network-density play for ArcBest’s ABF Freight — a modest, P&D‑friendly node that can relieve pressure in central Alabama without the capex burden of new construction. At the same time, the likely conversion of the Providence, Jacksonville and Florence terminals to non-LTL uses will cap near-term door growth for carriers in those markets, favoring incumbents that already fortified coverage after Yellow’s collapse.
The Yellow estate’s wind-down is nearly complete. According to recent filings referenced in the motion, just 11 owned terminals remained to sell heading into this week — a fraction of the original footprint liquidated since mid‑2023. That dwindling inventory helps explain why recent buyers include more real estate players than carriers: many of the remaining sites are better suited to redevelopment than linehaul operations. Court approval will determine the timing of closings on the new batch.
Investor sentiment toward ArcBest is steady but cautious as the company continues to pick off targeted real estate. As of Oct. 22, analysts’ consensus stood at “Hold,” with an average 12‑month price target around $90 — a backdrop that rewards disciplined, tuck‑in capacity additions over big-ticket bets.
Why it matters for trucking: the mix of buyers tells you where incremental capacity is (and isn’t) coming. ArcBest’s low-cost door adds in secondary markets can tighten service radiuses and shave stem miles; conversely, when large terminals migrate to non-transport uses, future density improvements in those metros get harder and pricier. With only a handful of owned sites left in the Yellow estate, the window for carriers to add doors via liquidation is closing — and the next round of capacity gains will lean more on renovations, relocations and greenfield builds than on bargain real estate.
Sources: FreightWaves, IndexBox, Defense World
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