An investor who has accumulated a significant interest in OTR Express Inc. is seeking to revive the defunct trucking company.

In documents filed with regulators last week, Douglas W. Palme of Springfield, Ill., called for a special stockholders meeting in Kansas City to elect company directors and to restart OTR Express Inc., which shut down more than three years ago.
OTR, based in Olathe, Kan., closed in July 2001 and entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in March 2002.
The bankruptcy case is still in progress, although the company's former chairman said it was close to being completed.
Palme said he was an investor in OTR before its shutdown. He owns 178,800 shares, or 10% of the stock outstanding. Securities and Exchange Commission records show that Palme bought 178,000 shares in August and September for 2 to 13 cents a share.
When OTR closed in 2001, William P. Ward, the company's founder and chairman, cited rising fuel prices, the slowing economy and the cost of capital.
Although the trucking industry still faces high diesel prices, the economy has picked up. Many trucking companies are experiencing historically high volume and are being aided by congestion among railroads.
Palme said he recently noticed that the company stock was still trading over the counter and began acquiring more shares. Palme, who said he has more than 20 years of experience in the transportation industry, also began talking to others about reviving OTR.
"OTR has some residual value to its name," he said. "A lot of old customers still remember them as a good and reliable carrier. Some of us began discussing that it may be worth bringing the company back."
Palme said he would keep OTR's main operations in the Kansas City area, citing the advantages of being in the middle of the country.
After the stockholders meeting, Palme said, he will have a better idea whether the effort will be worthwhile.
"Right now the stock's not worth the paper it's printed on," he said. "Anything that anybody can do to revive the company benefits the 254 stockholders that hold the paper."
Ward said he was not familiar with Palme.
"We were contacted a few times when we first went into bankruptcy" about possible investors, Ward said. "But I haven't heard from anyone in years."
Palme said any attempt to revive OTR would not include previous management.