Operations

Universal Truckload buys three transportation firms

Jan. 15, 2010

Universal Truckload Services, Inc. has completed the acquisition of three U.S. transportation companies: D. Kratt International, Inc.; Cavalry Transportation, LLC and Cavalry Logistics, LLC; and TSD Transportation L.P.
D. Kratt International is a full-service, international freight forwarding and customs house brokerage firm. It also provides domestic and international logistics and warehousing functions, as well as documentary and cargo insurance services.
Cavalry Transportation and Cavalry Logistics offers fully integrated transportation resources including intermodal, truckload and less-than-truckload transportation options. Calvary, like D. Kratt, will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Truckload Services, Inc.
TSD Transportation provides for-hire freight services, including van, flatbed, step deck, heavy- haul, “hot shots” and intermodal services throughout the United States. According to Universal, TSD will be integrated into the operations of Louisiana Transportation, Inc., already a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Truckload Services, Inc.
Primarily an “asset-light” provider of transportation in the U. S., Ontario and Quebec, Universal Truckload Services posted third quarter net income of $1.7 million or $0.11 per share in October, compared to $5.4 million or $0.34 per share in the year prior.
"We believe these acquisitions will nicely complement our current service offerings and add additional strength in our truckload operations,” said Universal president & CEO, Don Cochran “These were strategic acquisitions for us. Collectively, they should add about $35.0 million in annual revenue in 2010; however, we do not expect their impact to be accretive to earnings until the second half of the year.”
Fleet acquisitions, mergers and bankruptcies have been a hallmark of the recession in the trucking industry and they are not expected to end with the start of the new year, according to Lana Batts, managing partner at Transport Capital Partners, LLC..
“People genuinely feel like we have hit the bottom, but we don’t expect things to come back very fast this time,” Batts told Fleet Owner last month. “For starters, we will see a significant spike in business closures…. Insurance providers demand up-front payment; fuel and licensing are up-front costs; payroll services are not going to carry anybody. However, for the survival of the industry [this reduction in capacity] will be a good thing in the longer term.”

About the Author

Wendy Leavitt

Wendy Leavitt joined Fleet Owner in 1998 after serving as editor-in-chief of Trucking Technology magazine for four years.

She began her career in the trucking industry at Kenworth Truck Company in Kirkland, WA where she spent 16 years—the first five years as safety and compliance manager in the engineering department and more than a decade as the company’s manager of advertising and public relations. She has also worked as a book editor, guided authors through the self-publishing process and operated her own marketing and public relations business.

Wendy has a Masters Degree in English and Art History from Western Washington University, where, as a graduate student, she also taught writing.