What happened to Eclipse Expediting?

[mikedrives191]

Does anyone know what happened to Eclipse Expediting. I went to their website last night and it says that they had to close down their carrier side due to having some insurance problems. They claim that some of the bigger expedite carriers had them blackballed by insurance underwrites. I was wondering if any of you guys have driven for them and what happened to all of their drivers? I worked for a fleet owner that had some units on with them in the past. It's a shame that they were targeted because they run the multi-carrier model. I still see a lot of other multi-carriers out there and they are not having any problems with their insurance. If it is true that they were blackballed by some of the bigger carriers, it is a sad day in this industry. I hope they can get another insurance policy and rebuild their company. They were always a good team to work for when I was with them.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I can only aszume they were probably one of them running under insured...you just can't get away with cheap anymore.... 1 million liability and $100,000 cargo is the absolute minimum required by most carriers and load brokers....AND the carriers MUST prove and verify that their contractors are properly insured and STAY that way!....

 

[bubblehead]

I thought the term was "black listed". Regardless, if a carrier outsourced to them and had a claim that Eclipse couldn't cover, or otherwise discovered they were not maintaining the required coverage (for that carrier or regulated minimum) then it would actually be a good day in this industry.

Financial responsibility is paramount in all aspects of business. If Eclipse has been wrongfully accused (slandered or defamed) then they should seek remedy through the legal system. However if they have not been above board in there business practices, then a just deed has been done.

I hope that regulations are aggressively enforced in order to weed out those that are not fully in compliance. This includes carriers, brokers, fleet owners, O/Os and of course the equipment (trucks, trailers, vans) that is operating on our public highways. It is good for the safety of the public and for the integrity of this industry.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I thought the term was "black listed". Regardless, if a carrier outsourced to them and had a claim that Eclipse couldn't cover, or otherwise discovered they were not maintaining the required coverage (for that carrier or regulated minimum) then it would actually be a good day in this industry.

Financial responsibility is paramount in all aspects of business. If Eclipse has been wrongfully accused (slandered or defamed) then they should seek remedy through the legal system. However if they have not been above board in there business practices, then a just deed has been done.

I hope that regulations are aggressively enforced in order to weed out those that are not fully in compliance. This includes carriers, brokers, fleet owners, O/Os and of course the equipment (trucks, trailers, vans) that is operating on our public highways. It is good for the safety of the public and for the integrity of this industry.

absolutely..well said.....GONE are the days of doing what you want to....there are rules in place and standards to meet...and hopefully compliance will be fully enforced no matter who the offenders are, like bubblehead referred to....

 

[mikedrives191]

The bigger carriers have been doing shady stuff for years unchecked. I know a company that has been brokering loads out for at least ten years with no broker bond - and to this day they have no broker bond and no one has ever done anything to them. They pay everyone on time, but that's besides the point. I hope this "enforcing of the rules" will apply equally to every carrier, and not just the ones that are selected for target practice. I never knew Eclipse to do anything shady with their company. I'm just wondering if any of their former drivers can tell us what happened, or where they're working now. I do know that there are still a bunch of multi-carrier operations out there, so is this the beginning of the end of the multi-carrier model?

 

[jelliott]

It is hopefully the beginning of the end for those multi-carrier model companies that exist and prosper based on the model of being cheaper based on improper and fraudulent insurance coverage. Ultimately no one but the owner of that kind of company benefits, especially the owner operators.

 

[mikedrives191]

Everyone is operating cheap these days. It's mostly the bigger carriers. Panther pays 70 cents per mile plus a 14 cent per mile fuel surcharge. That is 84 cents per mile for a cargo van. The lowest rate I ever had at Eclipse was for 80 cents per mile "all in!" That isn't much different from what Panther is paying and they have 600 cargo vans. FedEx is not paying that much more these days either. I don't see where the smaller carriers are bringing down the industry? It's easy for the big guys to come in and slap around the little guys because the bigger carriers have tons of money behind them. The mom and pop shops are barely making ends meet. So what other multi-carrier operations are currently on the chopping block?

Also, I have a question for Murray. Have you see any rate increases or increases in the amount of loads you're being awarded now that Eclipse is out of the picture? I think they've been out of the carrier business for at least three months! I doubt the rates have gone up since Eclipse has been out of the game. They were winning awards for being the carrier that received the most brokered loads. They were moving all of the brokered out freight, so if they were really running down the rates, by that logic rates should have increased by now.

 

[scottm4211]

So they were running cheap and not properly insured. Good riddance.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I don't think anyone said they were running down rates.....there is plenty of blame to spread around for everyone...
I think the creation of Roadrunner Expedite aka Active Arrow brokerage, has taken quite a few loads off the load boards as they are the primary source of JD loads..IMO....OR EPO is loading up their own trucks with NLM before everyone else.....just one of many reasons for the change of this business....

 

[OntarioVanMan]

So they were running cheap and not properly insured. Good riddance.

The difference of .04 is worth a " good riddence"? LOL

 

[scottm4211]

The difference of .04 is worth a " good riddence"? LOL

Along with not being properly insured? Absolutely.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

As I said before...you think you'd be happy with a 200% profit margin?.....If your carrier made that much you'd be crying like a baby...

IF your CPM is .30 cents and you make .90....thats what %200 profit?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Along with not being properly insured? Absolutely.

that makes sense....someone asked me about throwing on a van and it costing 3-500 for insurance...LMAO I told him try closer to 3-5,000$ he just about crapped!

 

[mikedrives191]

I never said that 80 cents per mile was the norm. It was the lowest rate me and my fleet owner ever got from Eclipse. Panther and the big boys are the ones cutting down the rates. I'm glad NLM and Active Aero loads are going on their own trusks. Most of the bigger companies were just bidding on their loads and then throwing them up on other load boards and driving the rates down that way. Plus the bigger companies like Panther also cheat on the insurance rates. Panther is self insured up to the first million dollars for cargo. That means that their insurance rates are pretty low, and their drivers pay their own bobtail insurance. Everyone cheats in one way or another in business.

 

[jelliott]

If Eclipse closed because they could not get insurance coverage as they say then you have to wonder.....

If they were telling the insurance carriers the truth and paying and insuring properly why would insurance carriers not want to write their policy???? Or were they providing false information to the carrier, lying, and cheating the system and they bottom line got caught by too many insurance companies????? Pretty simple to figure out in my opinion.

 

[jelliott]

I never said that 80 cents per mile was the norm. It was the lowest rate me and my fleet owner ever got from Eclipse. Panther and the big boys are the ones cutting down the rates. I'm glad NLM and Active Aero loads are going on their own trusks. Most of the bigger companies were just bidding on their loads and then throwing them up on other load boards and driving the rates down that way. Plus the bigger companies like Panther also cheat on the insurance rates. Panther is self insured up to the first million dollars for cargo. That means that their insurance rates are pretty low, and their drivers pay their own bobtail insurance. Everyone cheats in one way or another in business.

Being self insured isn't cheating the system???? That makes no sense. It is not different than you having a 0 deductible policy on your phys dam or a $500 deductible. The $500 deductible policy is cheaper but the INSURED is assuming greater risk and has to be prepared for it financially. It is the exact same thing.

If Eclipse paid you well that is great. I am sure Panther and other carriers would be able to pay better as well if they cheated on insurance and paid 10% of what they pay today.

Your statements don't match the logic of what you are saying in my opinion.

 

[mikedrives191]

I would really like to know what happened John. They have apparently been out of business for a few months and I barely found out about it. I wonder why they have not raised a bigger deal about this. Maybe one of their drivers had a freight claim and it was not paid. Who knows what happened. Their drivers must not be on EO because they would have surely posted something about this on here. I just wonder where all of their drivers and staff went. They had a lot of dispatchers and others working for their company. It's sad to see all of those jobs lost because no one will underwrite an insurance policy for them. I hope the truth comes out. I guess things are changing this year.

 

[mikedrives191]

Being self insured isn't cheating the system???? That makes no sense. It is not different than you having a 0 deductible policy on your phys dam or a $500 deductible. The $500 deductible policy is cheaper but the INSURED is ***uming greater risk and has to be prepared for it financially. It is the exact same thing.

If Eclipse paid you well that is great. I am sure Panther and other carriers would be able to pay better as well if they cheated on insurance and paid 10% of what they pay today.

Your statements don't match the logic of what you are saying in my opinion.

My logic is that if I had a million dollars to be self-insured, I can really lower the rates because my insurance would be low. I have never seen a freight claim on a load that is being hauled by a cargo van. Of course Panther assumes more risk by being self insured, but they make that up in low premiums. If one has a lot of money like the bigger carriers do, they can get around things easier and squash the smaller carriers.

 

[jelliott]

My logic is that if I had a million dollars to be self-insured, I can really lower the rates because my insurance would be low. I have never seen a freight claim on a load that is being hauled by a cargo van. Of course Panther ***umes more risk by being self insured, but they make that up in low premiums. If one has a lot of money like the bigger carriers do, they can get around things easier and squash the smaller carriers.

Cargo insurance is really the smaller part of insurance expense. Liability is the big expense by far. Big carriers also have more to risk and generally pay the full bill and don't risk cutting corners on insurance like some smaller carriers will. So it is really a draw on that side.

You can also go onto safersys.org and look at insurance history of carriers. That can often tell you a lot. When you see lots of cancellations and replacements. It often is from lack of payment or the carrier finds out the true nature of a companies business.

Only so many insurance companies write true interstate trucking insurance. A number of van only carriers got coverage by providing companies with false information. Saying they were local delivery only and other "stories". Well they all started getting caught when accidents started happening. Insurance companies started realizing and dropping these guys.

 

[Murraycroexp]

Also, I have a question for Murray. Have you see any rate increases or increases in the amount of loads you're being awarded now that Eclipse is out of the picture?

Eclipse was probably moving plenty of loads themselves. But in the grand scheme of just how many loads move, Eclipse is probably not a lot more than a blip on the radar.

This is a market correction. That is normal. The market is starting to pay more attention to how carriers are insuring and changing their requirements.
That's a good thing, overall.

But anyone that thinks the brokers that are requiring these types of insurance are paying a very different level of compensation for services, is mistaken.
Yes, sometimes a load pays a little more here and there. But that has always been the case. Also, many times it's ridiculous how very low many of these same brokers pay, that have adjusted their carrier insurance requirements.

What gets us more load? Shaving our gross profit margin and trying to keep the truck compensation at, or as close to, in line with industry standards as possible. And as often as possible.

Are we getting more loads with this insurance structure?
Considering it meant otherwise getting cut off by several brokers, YES.
Are we getting more loads than we were landing before the insurance shyte starting hitting the fan?
Probably not. But if it's up its just as likely from an approximate margin cut of 1/2-3%.
Is it worth it to help continue feeding out team?

*************YES, A THOUSAND TIMES, YES***********