Saddle Creek Logistics to Lay Off 54 in Virginia
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Saddle Creek Logistics plans to lay off 54 employees at its facility in South Richmond, Va., as freight shipping worldwide slows down because of uncertainty over tariffs and the economy.
The Lakeland, Fla.-based trucking and logistics company notified Virginia workforce officials that it will lay off employees at its facility on Commerce Road in July, with no plans to bring them back.
Saddle Creek ranks No. 66 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, and No. 9 on the dry storage warehousing list.
The company did not say why it is laying off staff at the facility, which operates near the Richmond Marine Terminal on the James River, but a local market analyst pointed to the tariff war that President Donald Trump launched against China and other U.S. trading partners after taking office on Jan. 20.
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“I think it’s tariffs, which could lead into an economic slowdown,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist and managing director at Capitol Securities Management in Richmond.
The tariff war between the U.S. and China, now in a 90-day truce, already appears to have taken its toll on shipping companies of varying types. Engelke, at Capitol Securities, said the London-based Baltic Dry Index, measuring worldwide shipping, has fallen more than 40% since October.
The slowdown has not shown up at the Port of Virginia, based in Hampton Roads and including the Richmond terminal, but ports in southern California have reported steep declines in shipments from China.
Saddle Creek operates 50 facilities across the U.S. Earlier this month, it announced layoffs of 73 employees at a facility in Atlanta, which market publications said were part of 1,300 layoffs by logistics companies since the beginning of April.
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In a blog post early last month, the company offered to help other companies to “mitigate your risk” from changing trade policies.
“Retailers and e-commerce brands that import goods have likely been keeping a close eye on shifting trade policies,” it said. “While the situation is still developing, it is bound to have a far-reaching impact on global supply chains.”
In December 1964, rolls of newsprint were hoisted from a ship at Richmond’s Deepwater Terminal in preparation for delivery. The Virginia State Ports Authority was hoping to substantially increase trade activity; it had recently opened an office in Tokyo, adding to international locations in London and Brussels.
