Saltchuk Resources Inc., based in Seattle, WA, is expected to acquire 78-year old Interstate Distributor Company (IDC) a family-owner fleet based in Tacoma, WA. The deal is expected to close on May 2.
Renee Trueblood, senior vice president of human resources for IDC, said the carrier has been “actively marketing itself” for a while and that the deal was brokered by Cascadia Capital LLC. “The McLean family [founders and owners of IDC] felt Saltchuk was the best home for our customers, our brand and our employees,” she said.
Trueblood also noted that Saltchuk already has made cash available to IDC to help “rebuild the company’s contract carrier base,” which had fallen off in the past few years. “We were having some cash flow constraints and we lost a lot of contract carriers, but Saltchuk is going to make sure we have the resources to bring contract carriers back on with us,” she said.
Additional funds will also be made available at closing to help upgrade some of IDC’s high-mileage tractors, company officials said. “We are excited about this opportunity,” Trueblood said. “This isn’t a situation where we are being swallowed up by the competition. And it’s not a situation where we are being bought by a private equity company that would look to then spin us off in a couple of years.”
IDC services include local, regional and transcontinental coverage, specialized, heavy haul and refrigerated equipment, dedicated fleets, intermodal and logistics management services. The fleet employs about 2,000 drivers.
