This year has been busy in the trucking industry when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, particularly among Overdrive sister publication CCJ’s Top 250 for-hire carriers. Deals have been occurring among fleets of all sizes, however.
Just since the start of June, there have been more than a dozen notable mergers and acquisitions among the nation’s largest fleets.
Among acquisitions through June and July alone were:
- Pitt Ohio acquired Watertown, New York-based LTL carrier Teal’s Express
- Ward Transport and Logistics acquired Chicago-based, Quality Cartage
- KLLM Transport Services acquired Quest Global
- Kenan Advantage Group acquired a Louisiana petrochem company
- USA Truck was bought by DB Schenker
- Freymiller was acquired by investment groups
- Fastfrate acquired Challenger Motor Freight
- PAM purchased Metropolitan Trucking
- Heartland Express picked up Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania-based Smith Transport
- Schneider, in its second acquisition of the year, bought deBoer Transportation, a regional and dedicated carrier headquartered in Blenker, Wisconsin
August and the first two weeks of September haven’t shown signs of the acquisition market slowing, either.
Last week, Wharton, New Jersey-based Carbon Express was acquired by Kenan Advantage Group. At the beginning of September, Atlas Logistics, a subsidiary of Atlas World Group, acquired Progressive Transportation, Inc. of Wausau, Wisconsin.
PS Logistics, via its Loudon, Tennessee-based subsidiary Purdy Brothers Trucking, in August acquired Phoenix Leasing of Tennessee, while also reaching an agreement with Phoenix sister company Colonial Freight Systems to contract with its owner-operator drivers to continue service to its Southeastern cold-chain customers
PS Logistics also acquired Noble LLC, including Noble Trucking and Noble Logistics, through its DMT Trucking subsidiary.
Finally, Kam-Way Transportation acquired Produce Supply Express (PSE), a 33-truck and 60 reefer fleet operation based in Spokane, Washington.
According to CCJ reporting near the end of July, experts believe that while some of the acquisitions could have been a way for fleets to obtain more trucks and drivers during a time when new equipment builds are lagging and prices for used equipment are increasing, the more likely reason for fleets’ growth has been expanding their lanes and broadening their customer base or adding specialized services.
[Related: Contract/spot freight market: Freight market indices chart the way down through this summer]
