After striking an expansion deal about six months ago, Tiger Cool Express, an intermodal firm specializing in temperature-controlled freight, appears to have ceased operations.

Jared Nye, former vice president of sales for Tiger Cool Express, Tuesday posted on LinkedIn that he was looking for a job and the company "has closed its doors, effective immediately."

Tiger Infrastructure Partners, the private equity group that owned the intermodalprovider, pulled its funding this week, forcing the company to close Tuesday and putting more than 50 people out of work, the Journal of Commerce reported. HDT contacted Tiger Infrastructure Partners by phone but has received no acknowledgment or denial of the closure.

Tiger Cool Express was the owner of roughly 700 temperature-controlled intermodal containers, and was a major hauler of Washington and Oregon products on BNSF Railway, reported Kansas City Business Journal.

Just last month, Union Pacific announced a partnership with Tiger Cool Express to reinstate temperature-controlled iIntermodal rail service in eastern Washington state.

Expansion Deal

In a January press release, Tiger Cool Express said it had signed a lease/purchase agreement to acquire the former Cold Connect warehouse and property, with plans to develop an adjacent intermodal ramp in Wallula, Washington. The lease/purchase agreement with Union Pacific Railroad was signed on Dec. 27.

Initially, Tiger Cool Express reported service would be offered between Wallula and the Northwest Seaport Alliance on-dock facilities for dry imports and exports as well as between Wallula and Chicago (and beyond) with Tiger Cool Express refrigerated domestic containers.

The company said it expected the service scope is expected to eventually expand into other markets, such as the I-5 corridor and Mexico.

"Despite our continued growth and fleet expansion, we realize that the Pacific Northwest offers transformational potential for our company," Steve Van Kirk, Tiger Cool Express's chief executive officer, said in the January press release. "With a private intermodal ramp, we can build on our own domestic customer base with their ISO shipping requirements at the same time we expand services to an entirely new community of stakeholders."