Illinois trucking company with 171 drivers files for bankruptcy

Nationwide Cargo says funds will be available for unsecured creditors

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

An Illinois trucking company with 183 trucks and 171 drivers recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Founded in June 2010, Nationwide Cargo Inc. of East Dundee, Illinois, hauls general freight, fresh produce and meat, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.

The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday, lists Hristo Angelov as the president of Nationwide Cargo.

No reason was given as to why the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, but it seeks to reorganize, according to the petition.

Nationwide Cargo lists its assets as between $1 million and $10 million and its liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 49 but states that funds will not be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

Angelov’s attorney, David D. Leibowitz, did not respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment as of publication.

Nationwide Cargo’s trucks had been inspected 185 times and 48 had been placed out of service in a 24-month period, resulting in a nearly 26% out-of-service rate. This is higher than the industry’s national average of around 22.3%, according to FMCSA.

The trucking company’s drivers had been inspected 457 times over the same 24-month period, with 18 drivers being placed out of service, resulting in a nearly 4% out-of-service rate. This is lower than the national average of around 6.7%, according to FMCSA. 

In the past two years, the company’s trucks had been involved in 12 injury crashes and 18 tow-aways.

The carrier’s gross revenues from Jan. 1 until its bankruptcy filing date are nearly $9.3 million. Its petition states the company made around $40 million in 2023 and nearly $34  million in ’22.

According to the petition, Nationwide Cargo’s shareholders Angelov, Peter Trendafilov and Peter Panteleymenov each took a shareholder draw of $10,000 in December.

The petition states that a payment of $200,000 was made in December to Five Star Garage, also located in East Dundee. According to the Illinois secretary of state’s business entity search, Five Star Garage is owned by Angelov. 

The trucking company is involved in three pending lawsuits in Tennessee, Illinois and Arizona. 

The three largest creditors with secured claims listed in the petition are Equify Financial LLC of Fort Worth, Texas, owed more than $3.5 million; Commercial Credit Group Inc. of Naperville, Illinois, owed nearly $1.8 million; and Continental Bank N.A. of Salt Lake City, owed nearly $676,000.

A creditors meeting hasn’t been scheduled yet.

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19 Comments

  1. ERIC CHAPMAN

    Crash and tow aways is misleading, I had a tow away once from a semi that blew a tire . Their mudflap braket flew off landed in front of me . He was on my right and a car on my left . Cracked my oil pan . Needed a tow to get my truck fixed .
    Tow away on my MC for 2 years.

  2. Husan

    No reason why bankruptcy? Its obvious what happening in trucking industry. Load rates are like in 1998s for todays diesel rate which does not make sense.
    My company safatey rate is 27% which is not effecting me booking laods.

    Problem is cheap load for high disel price. Since December 2023 I lost of -$5000

  3. ,tom verderamo

    The way I see it the road buster trucking operations never pay their fair share of taxes and almost always short change their driver and warehouse employees. They run overweight loads off the main roads to get over on the police who have all but a minimal presence on the enforcement scene. All the while being funded by some rich big shot that could not even operate a standard transmission car! I have worked for these crooks and they close down and refuse to pay their debts and the just open up in another name just to do the same crooked scam on a new set of employees and creditors; just like the DONALD TRUMP model of business plan!

  4. A minster of the Lord Jesus

    Well I have to say that the Lord doesn’t like a greedy person or any greed period, so this company alone with other companies like this one will reap what they sow they take a lot of money’s from the same hand that feed them, which is the drivers and pay the driver the bare minimum, to were some drivers have to struggle to pay their bills. Now it’s their turn to see what it is to struggle, after living high on the hog, and taking money’s from drivers who has to take care of their families. This is not the only company that does this it all of them, it’s just a matter of time before they get the same thing as nationwide cargo.

  5. Timothy Parkhurst

    12 crashes and 18 towaways in 2 years for a company with 100 trucks and owned by Eastern Europeans on top of that? They are lucky to have even been in business at all! Most companies would have been shutdown when 10% of the company were in accidents in less than 24 months!

  6. Jessy S

    Keep in mind that breakdowns, crashes, and towaways aren’t that bad in perspective. For example, crashes are sometimes caused by 4-wheel drivers and all three are related. One thing about towaways is that they are for anything including cases of moisture getting into the fuel at a truck stop.

Comments are closed.

Clarissa Hawes

Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 18 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 chawes@firecrown.com or @cage_writer on X, formerly Twitter.