Two Minnesota carriers shut down, idling 200 drivers
Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves
Sat, December 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM EST
3 min read
Over the weekend, two Minnesota-based carriers under the True North Equity Partners umbrella ceased operations overnight, putting approximately 200 drivers out of work.
MinStar Transport and Transport Design Inc., each operating fleets of around 100 trucks, announced their immediate closures in communications to employees and partners, according to multiple reports circulating in trucking communities on social media. The sudden shutdowns are the latest in a string of carrier failures amid the ongoing Great Freight Recession, now approaching its fourth year since starting in March 2022.
“2 Minnesota Companies overnight are Shutting Down. 200 more Truckers out of work,” read a widely shared post from the TalkCDL Facebook group that has drawn significant attention among drivers and industry insiders. Similar alerts appeared across other trucking forums, underscoring the abrupt loss of jobs in an already challenging market.
Both companies were part of True North Equity Partners’ portfolio of transportation assets. True North, a Minneapolis-based private equity firm focused on lower-middle-market investments, acquired Transport Design in March 2020. The Burnsville, Minnesota-headquartered firm specialized in refrigerated and dry van services, serving food and consumer goods shippers across the Midwest. True North expanded its holdings in October 2022 by purchasing MinStar Transport of Eagan, along with affiliated entities MinStar Logistics, Transport21, and North Star Transport. MinStar focused on temperature-controlled logistics, with a network supporting regional and national distribution.
At the time of the MinStar acquisition—eight months into the freight downturn—the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported that True North Equity Partners’ trucking portfolio was expected to generate $220 million in annual revenue.
True North Transportation Holding Company, a key entity in the group’s structure, was named in a September 2025 lawsuit filed by American National Bank in Scott County District Court. The suit, involving defendants including Norsemen Holdings, Norsemen Trucking, and principals Brian Slipka and Eric Valder, alleges breach of loan agreements and seeks repayment of outstanding debts. While details remain limited due to the case’s early stage, such financial pressures often precede operational wind-downs in the sector.
This is not an isolated incident. The trucking industry has seen a wave of closures and bankruptcies throughout 2025. FreightWaves has covered several high-profile failures in recent months, including:
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-10 Roads Express, the largest trucking bankruptcy since Yellow Corp., with 2,500 trucks and 5,000 employees;
– Montgomery Transport, which shuttered after its owner, One Equity Partners, exited the industry, idling over 1,000 employees.
According to a 2022 Sioux Falls Business article, True North Equity Partners owns several other trucking assets, including Contact Cartage (Minneapolis), D&A Truckline Inc. and Viking Land Transportation (both New Ulm, Minnesota), J-Mar Enterprises (West Fargo, North Dakota), Norsemen (Lake Mills, Iowa), and Transport Designs (Burnsville, Minnesota). The current status of these operations remains uncertain.
While trucking bankruptcies carry significant personal impacts for affected families, they also serve a structural role in an industry plagued by excess capacity for the past several years. Bankruptcies are a natural mechanism for eliminating surplus trucks and drivers from the market.
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