Dec. 9--Con-way Inc. is cutting 1,450 positions, or about 8 percent of its workforce.

Con-way is the California-based company that bought Contract Freighters Inc. (CFI) last year for $750 million.

Officials with CFI and Con-way could not be reached for comment to explain the impact on Joplin, but in a statement issued Monday, noted the job cuts were spread across 303 locations in North America. They included the elimination of 78 positions at Con-way Freight's Ann Arbor, Mich., general office and 60 positions at an administrative center in Texas.

The decision is the result of "unprecedented economic conditions," the company said in a statement.

"While we are focused on aggressive cost-reduction measures, over the past two months the effect of decelerating volumes in the LTL (less than truckload) market, coupled with pricing pressures and lower fuel surcharges, have significantly curtailed expectations for 2008 earnings, the fourth quarter in particular," Douglas Stotlar, Con-way president and chief executive officer, said in the statement.

The job cuts, according to the statement, are "in line with lower tonnage volumes which were down 3.8 percent in October and 9.2 percent in November, respectively, from last year's levels."

As part of the announcement, Con-way also revised its estimate for 2008 earnings to be between $2.20 and $2.35 per share, down from previous estimate of $2.60 to $2.80 per share.

That is a drop of about 15 percent.

The company said in its statement that it is maintaining a "relatively wide range in guidance, due to turbulent market conditions and lack of reliable visibility into an economy which continues to deteriorate."

The job cuts, which took effect on Dec. 5, will result in a fourth-quarter charge to earnings of $7.5 million, primarily for severance and related expenses.

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