A software glitch at a Mississippi warehouse that resulted in a massive liquor shortage across the state continues to drag on, with copious amounts of booze sitting idle and at least four lawsuits pending against the billion-dollar Iowa trucking company at the center of it all.
Data from the Mississippi Department of Revenue, which oversees and controls all wine and spirit sales in the state, shows a backlog of 172,176 unshipped cases at the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse.
That number is down from a March 3 high of 220,027 pending cases, but, four months into the apparently avoidable situation, retailers, restaurants and bars are still suffering, according to reports. When orders do come in, they frequently bear little resemblance to what was requested – prepackaged Jell-O shots arriving in place of small-batch Norwegian gin, for example – all combining to create what The Washington Post recently described as a “state of emergency.”
Local eateries were unable to get wine on Valentine’s Day, bars on the Gulf Coast have run out of alcohol, and nearly half a dozen liquor stores have closed amid the self-inflicted drought, according to business owners.
Mississippi is a so-called control state, in which the state government is the sole authorized liquor wholesaler. Its warehouse, located in Gluckstadt, about 17 miles north of Jackson, is the single point of wholesale distribution for all licensed retailers in the entire state, according to a civil complaint filed in Madison County Circuit Court by Calistoga Wines & Spirits, LLC, an area liquor store.
Normally, Calistoga received orders from the state’s ABC warehouse within one to three days of placing them, the complaint says. But, it goes on, as 2026 began, orders started to go unfilled, filled only partially, or delayed for weeks on end. In February, as store shelves grew barer and barer, many items suddenly became completely unavailable, according to the complaint.
A month earlier, the Ruan Transport Corporation, an Iowa-based company the Department of Revenue hired in 2023 to operate the ABC warehouse, underwent a partial shutdown for annual inventory and implemented new warehouse management software during the pause.
However, the complaint contends, the new software system “was not compatible with the existing conveyor belt system used to load delivery trucks at the warehouse.”
“As a direct result of this incompatibility, three of the four conveyor belt lines at the warehouse were removed from service,” the complaint continues. “... Rather than having a functional contingency plan in place, Ruan reverted the warehouse to a dramatically slower manual ‘pick and pallet’ system for loading trucks. This resulted in a massive and ongoing reduction in the warehouse’s throughput capacity.”
In a statement issued last month, attorney Tim Porter, who is representing Calistoga and three other retailers in separately filed lawsuits against Ruan, said the lawsuits were “about accountability.”
“Ruan Transport – a billion-dollar corporation out of Iowa – was hired to run Mississippi’s only liquor warehouse,” Porter’s statement said. “They rolled out an untested system, it failed, and every liquor store, bar, restaurant and casino in the state has been paying the price ever since.”
In its own statement, the Mississippi Department of Revenue said systems are improving. Yet, according to Calistoga’s complaint, the backlog is not expected to be fully resolved until May. Meanwhile, a statehouse proposal to allow Mississippi retailers to purchase liquor from out-of-state shops and sell them back home, died in committee.
Now, legislators say they are planning to build a new ABC warehouse, which is set to open in 2027.
As Shaun Blakeney, manager of Arrow Wine and Spirits in Clinton, told the Post, “We’re hanging on by the skin of our teeth.”
Last week, Calistoga – which sought compensatory and punitive damages from Ruan for, among other things, gross negligence – voluntarily dropped its case against the company, suggesting a possible settlement.
The Independent has reached out to Ruan for comment.
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