On July 1, 2020 the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it was providing YRC Worldwide with a two-tranche loan that would allow it to make delinquent health and welfare and pension payments as well as fund capital expenditures for its tractors and trailers. As part of the deal, YRC is required to issue the Treasury Department shares of common stock, which YRC expects will equate to a 29.6% equity stake in the company.

The press release stated that “YRC is a leading provider of critical military transportation and other hauling services to the U.S. government and provides 68% of less-than-truckload services to the Department of Defense. This loan will enable YRC to maintain approximately 30,000 trucking jobs and continue to support essential military supply chain operations and the transport of industrial, commercial, and retail goods to more than 200,000 corporate customers across North America.”

It is noteworthy that this is the first time the U.S government has taken a large stake in a company seeking a bailout in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also the first loan announced from the $17 billion relief fund created by U.S. lawmakers to help "businesses critical to maintaining national security."

To make sense of this bailout, it is worth taking a trip back in history. In the early 2000s there were three large unionized LTL carriers, Consolidated Freightways, Roadway Corporation and Yellow Freight System. Back in 2002, Consolidated Freightways Corp., America's third-largest trucker laid off about 15,500 workers, shut down its operations and filed for bankruptcy.