Parsec is shutting down its northside Jacksonville terminal after losing a major customer contract, a move that is expected to leave nearly 150 employees without work by spring. The company has started winding down operations at the site and has told staff to anticipate the closure in the coming weeks, a major blow in a part of the city where rail and intermodal jobs have long been a reliable source of blue-collar work.
As reported by the Jacksonville Business Journal, Parsec said the shutdown follows the loss of a key customer contract and that the northside facility will close this spring. The story, published Feb. 25, 2026, notes that the exit will leave nearly 150 workers jobless by spring. The initial report did not identify which customer pulled its business.
Ownership and scale
Parsec, a Cincinnati-based intermodal and rail-terminal operator, was acquired by Universal Logistics Holdings in 2024, according to a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. That filing shows the purchase price was roughly $193.6 million and that the acquisition closed Sept. 30, 2024. In Universal’s proxy statement, the company also notes Parsec employed roughly 2,100 people as of Dec. 31, 2024, underscoring that the Jacksonville outpost represents a relatively small slice of a much larger network.
Workers and the local market
The most immediate impact lands on employees at the northside ramp, where the shutdown is hitting at the same time the broader industrial market has been wrestling with rising vacancy. Recent coverage of the Northeast Florida market reported North Jacksonville’s industrial vacancy near 10%, a level that can slow rapid rehiring or absorption of displaced workers.
Parsec has trimmed its Jacksonville footprint before, in 2021 it closed an FEC rail-yard operation there and cut several dozen jobs, according to earlier local reporting. For workers who have already watched one round of cuts, the latest closure marks a second major rollback in just a few years…