US trucking giant, Yellow, has seized its operations and is filing for bankruptcy,  posing another blow to the still-recovering supply chains, particularly in North America. 

Teamsters said in a statement that it was notified that Yellow Corp's operating companies have closed — ending the operations of one of the United States' largest less-than-truckload carriers (LTL).

"The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy," it said.

Sean M. O'Brien, general president of Teamsters, noted that the news is "unfortunate but not surprising."

"Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry," the union chief said.

The report emerged after years of financial struggles saw large numbers of its customers leave recently. The  Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow operations shut last Sunday following the layoffs of hundreds of nonunion employees the Friday prior. 

Bloomberg reported that Yellow is also "considering a sale of assets and real estate through a bankruptcy filing, which may come as soon as this weekend," citing people with knowledge of the developments at the Nashville, Tennessee-based trucker.

Yellow, previously known as YRC Worldwide Inc., is a major LTL carrier in the US. They transport freight that doesn't require a full truck, enabling multiple shippers to share one — and its closure is seen to put as many as 30,000 people's jobs at risk.