One of America's largest trucking companies is quietly closing its operations of a Pennsylvania warehouse and will lay off dozens

t
• Swift Logistics, a brokerage and asset-based logistics provider within Swift Transportation, announced it would end its operations of a warehouse in York, Pennsylvania, and lay off 56 employees.
t
• Swift Transportation is transferring the operations of that facility to a new management company. Swift says that new company will hire back most of those laid-off employees.
t
• Swift Transportation is an entity of Knight-Swift, the fourth-largest trucking company in the US by revenue.
t
• Trucking has faced significant headwinds in 2019, and 4,200 truck drivers lost their jobs in September alone.
t
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Swift Logistics, a brokerage and asset-based logistics provider, announced layoffs this week.

It said in a letter to Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry on Wednesday that it would close its warehouse in the town of York, effective December 31, and that all 56 employees there would be laid off permanently.

After this article was published, Swift Transportation responded to Business Insider's previous request for comment with clarification on the warehouse facility. While the letter said the warehouse would be closed and the employees would be laid off, Swift said it will transfer ownership of the warehouse to one of its customers, who will hire back the majority of those employees.

"The existing hardworking employees supporting the current operation are being supported by Swift and the incoming managing partner throughout the period of this transition, and are openly working with the new warehouse manager to continue their tenure at the facility," Rachel Monti, chief human-resources officer told Business Insider in an emailed statement.

However, Monti was unable to clarify who the new warehouse operator is, how many employees would be kept on during the transition, and if they'll be required to reapply for their jobs.

Swift Logistics is an entity within Knight-Swift, the fourth-largest trucking company in the US by revenue.

Knight-Swift announced third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, disclosing that adjusted operating income had plunged by 27.4% from 2018.

A downturn is hitting the trucking industry - and now even large employers are getting slammed

Trucking has faced significant headwinds this year. It has been in a recession since the first half of 2019, according to ACT Research.

In the first six months of 2019, about 640 trucking companies closed, according to industry data from Broughton Capital cited by The Wall Street Journal. That was more than triple the number from the same period last year: 175.

America slashed 9,300 trucking payrolls in September and August alone.

The recession in trucking has especially affected small carriers, who operate largely on the spot market.

Trucking loads can be picked up on demand through the spot market or through a prearranged contract. The contract market makes up most of the trucking market, according to the American Trucking Associations.

Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Spot-market rates have crashed in 2019, while contract market rates haven't seen the same dip.

But these layoffs from Swift Logistics suggest again that the trucking industry's contraction is affecting large companies too.