Compliance January 8, 2010

PBGC Assumes Pensions of Illinois Trucking Company

January 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has assumed responsibility for three underfunded pension plans covering more than 675 workers and retirees of Mid-States Express, Inc., a defunct trucking carrier based in Aurora, Illinois.
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The PBGC said it stepped in because the plans failed to meet minimum funding requirements and faced abandonment because the company, in bankruptcy since March 27, 2009, has ceased operations and is liquidating its assets under the direction of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee.

The agency estimates the three pension plans are 78% funded, with aggregate assets of $13.9 million to cover $17.9 million in benefit liabilities, and it expects to be responsible for the about $3.4 million of the plans’ $4 million shortfall. The PBGC assumed trusteeship of the plans on December 22, 2009.

The Mid-States Express Employees’ Pension Pension Plan and Trust ended as of December 31, 2008, while the Valley Cartage Inc. Employees’ Pension Plan and Trust, and the National Transport Express Inc. Employees’ Pension Plan and Trust ended as of March 27, 2009.

The PBGC said assumption of the plans’ unfunded liabilities will have no significant effect on its financial statements because an estimate of the claim was previously included in the agency’s fiscal year 2009 financial statements.

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