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323-truck carrier in Illinois calls it quits after 41 years

Dillon Transport had 342 drivers and 323 power units

Illinois-based dry and liquid bulk carrier ceased operations Tuesday after 41 years, sources say. Photo: Dillon Transport

This file has been updated to include a comment from a former Dillon Transport executive confirming the closure.

After 41 years, a family-owned dry and liquid bulk trucking company ceased operations as of midnight Tuesday.

Dillon Logistics Inc., doing business as Dillon Transport, was headquartered in Burr Ridge, Illinois. The carrier had 342 drivers and 323 power units at the time of its closure, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.

While the company has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the carrier’s closure, a former Dillon Transport executive, who spoke to FreightWaves on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the news Wednesday that the company had shuttered operations.


“The decision was made by our private equity owners,” the former Dillon executive told FreightWaves.

According to PitchBook, private-equity firm Cotton Creek Capital recapitalized Dillon Transport to support the company’s continued expansion efforts in January 2017.

As of publication, Antonio DiGesualdo, managing director of Cotton Creek, did not respond to FreightWaves’ requests seeking comment about the closure.

Founded in 2006, Texas-based Cotton Creek has offices in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin, and focuses on investing in lower middle-market companies in the U.S. 


Cotton Creek invests in companies within the manufacturing, infrastructure, value-added distribution, industrial services, building products, specialty chemical, business services, food and beverage, transportation and logistics sectors, according to PitchBook.

Dillon Transport’s Facebook page was deactivated Tuesday, company email addresses listed on the carrier’s website weren’t working and no one was answering the telephone at its nine terminals in the country. 

Founded in 1980, Dillon Transport provided dry bulk and liquid tanker services to the agriculture, building products, industrial and energy industries. 

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18 Comments

  1. jeff stamm

    All Dillon Drivers……we will get you back to work fast at Rowland Transportation! Great pay package and $5K sign on bonus. Call 352-567-2002 X163 or X166

  2. Ian

    Gotta love private equity firms. Buy a company, bleed it dry for capital, and then sell it’s assets! Hundreds of people out of work. God Bless capitalism!

    1. Robert Cox

      Capitalism is not the problem. Move to another country and try surviving, but don’t blame capitalism. If you are a Bernie Sanders or Biden supporter you should get out of America if it’s so bad.

  3. CARLY KAPPELT

    If any drivers are looking for an immediate new start, please contact me at 260-205-6271 – Drivebuchanan.com
    Buchanan Hauling and Rigging.
    “BE SAFE DRIVERS”

  4. No one

    They weren’t making money and the bank shut them down… They had a chance to move operations elsewhere, but they decided to upend the livelihoods of several hundred employees instead. Several hundred HARD working employees that suddenly found out they had no more job to go to. It’s business… i get it, but whomever made the decision is still dick in my eyes.

  5. Peter

    Something shady must have happened behind the scenes. Bulk rates, tankers and dry are at all time highs.
    Shippers paying bonus’ of $5000 to $10000 per truck to get loads moved is not unheard of right now.

    1. JenniferM

      Ah but remember – they’re based in one of the most anti-business states in the country with oppressive tax regimes. Hundreds of SME’s have fled places like Illinois, New York, and California to sustain their livelihoods. Some didn’t act quickly enough and are left to rot, thanks to bureaucrats who hate them. Those regimes don’t want people employed by family – owned businesses – what the rest of us consider the backbone of our country; they want their citizens completely, unequivocally dependent upon some form of government for their survival.

      1. Spike King

        actually not true. This was a family owned business- no longer as it was sold to an equity firm several years ago. They were purchased by an equity firm that bleed it dry (typical)- put no money into it and will sell all the assets…… All for a great profit and now they will move on to their next business.

Comments are closed.

Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 16 years. She is an award-winning journalist known for her investigative and business reporting. Before joining FreightWaves, she wrote for Land Line Magazine and Trucks.com. If you have a news tip or story idea, send her an email to [email protected] or @cage_writer on X, formerly Twitter.