SOUTH BEND -- Forty people are now out of work in South Bend after a long-time trucking company closed its doors. Alvan Motor Freight was based in Kalamazoo, but had a terminal in South Bend.

And over the weekend, the company stopped operations and said it is filing for bankruptcy. Some customers say the closing could also hurt them.

Brandon Cerecke helps run a family business outside of Bridgman, Michigan. The company does work on metal parts and relied on Alvan Motor Freight and its South Bend terminal to help get the parts to its customers quickly.

"When I heard that Alvan's done, I couldn't believe it," Cerecke said. "It was a shock. I mean my family's done business with Alvan as long as I've been alive. I remember when I was a kid at Ultra Seal in the playroom, my scribble sheets I'd draw on were Alvan letterhead."

As Alvan Motor Freight pulls its trucks off the region's highways, 525 people are losing their jobs at operations in 15 Midwest cities.

"A number of problems outside of our control have overwhelmed us to the point where we are left without a choice," Alvan president and CEO James Van Zeoren said in a statement.

Among those problems he pointed to are the high cost of diesel fuel, competition, fall out from the strike at American Axle, who was a major customer, and a weakening economy.

"It's a small snapshot of what is really going on in Southwest Michigan and Michiana," Cerecke said. Cerecke says he feels for the workers he's gotten to know as friends, and he'll try to make sure his own business isn't hurt too much as a result of the closing.

"It's not going to be easy," he said.

Alvan Motor Freight was a family run business founded in 1941 and also had operations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis.