The first clue something is off usually shows up where semi-truck drivers grab coffee and kill time. When truck stops thin out in December, people notice.

That’s the backdrop for what just happened in Laredo, Texas, a place that normally hums with cross-border freight and holiday volume.

Texas International Enterprises, a Laredo-based trucking company focused on cross-border moves, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off 600 drivers

The filing landed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The company reported between $10 million and $50 million in assets and liabilities, listed more than 200 creditors, and said unsecured creditors should expect nothing once administrative costs are paid.

This wasn’t a ghost fleet

According to Off the Front Page, Texas International operated 280 power units and about 1,500 trailers. It logged more than 39 million miles in 2024 and maintained active status with the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

By mid December, it joined a long line of carriers knocked flat by low freight rates, high operating costs, and demand that never really showed up.

The timing rattles folks who watch freight for a living.

December is usually “Money Month” for truck drivers

Instead, drivers are seeing empty docks and faster turn times. It’s a warning, some say.

One of the loudest voices reacting is a working trucker named Josh, who posts industry commentary on his YouTube channel, The Enemy From Within. He didn’t mince words.

“A trucking company closing in Laredo, Texas this time of year should send off the alarm bells like crazy,” he said. “Laredo, Texas is an excellent economic indicator of what’s going on in shipping. And the reason is because it’s international trade.”

He also pointed to day-to-day signs drivers catch before analysts do. “I was telling you guys about the empty truck stops all over the country, or the lower wait times at shippers and receivers,” he said. “There just weren’t as many trucks there.”

And there’s another layer here.

Texas International employed 600 drivers, but ran fewer than 300 trucks

That usually means a heavy owner-operator mix. In other words, independent drivers who run small businesses on wheels.

Those get crushed first when rates fall and insurance, fuel, and maintenance don’t.

Josh went further, predicting the first quarter of 2026 will be a “complete bloodbath” for small and midsize carriers.

Bluntly, he blames President Trump: “Right now, while you’re bowing down to Donald Trump and saying he’s doing great things for you, he is getting you fired. He is selling you out to the mega-carriers.”

On Reddit, the news hit a nerve

Some comments captured the career whiplash a lot of truckers feel right now.

“And I thought that trucking was the only job safe and paid … wtf do they want us to do now?

“we lost our jobs in white collar and had no choice but to end up driving trucks to just to have a job and make a living. Now what”

Others pushed back on the idea that trades are a safe landing spot.

“Everyone is being told trades – hvac, plumbing, electrician, construction- until the unions are busted by the billionaires, AI bubble pops and demand for datacenters dry up, way too many apprentices and not enough retirees in trades so rates/salaries drop”

Some zoomed out, noting consolidation, rail competition on cross-border freight, and the quiet shift to brokers and third-party logistics firms. A few pointed straight at automation:

“Driving is literally one of the most jobs most likely to be taken over by robots. Not even AI based. It’s already happening and will accelerate.”

“Replace by cyber truck…”

This isn’t sci-fi stuff. Just math and time

Taken together, the comments read less like a rant and more like a group diagnosis. Trucking isn’t an island. It reflects manufacturing, retail, trade policy, and how goods actually move. When Laredo stumbles in December, it’s not just a semi-truck story. It could be the economy clearing its throat before saying something nobody (especially truck drivers) wants to hear.