Liquid and dry bulk hauler Bulkmatic Transport of Griffith, Indiana, announced Tuesday it had acquired Illinois-based Paris Transport Inc. to add capacity and improve service to its customers.
Family-owned Bulkmatic, founded in 1965, has nearly 530 drivers and a fleet of approximately 600 power units, according to its latest filing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in late February. It also has around 1,300 pneumatic dry bulk trailers.
The carrier offers trucking and rail logistics services for food companies, plastic manufacturers and shippers of bulk commodities.
Paris Transport, a 44-year-old carrier headquartered in Paris, Illinois, had about 28 drivers and 33 power units, according to the FMCSA SAFER website. The company hauled dry bulk and dry van freight.
Jeff Bingham, vice president of sales of Bulkmatic, told FreightWaves late Tuesday that customers of Paris Transport will not experience a service interruption because Doug Smittkamp, vice president of Paris, will remain “in charge of the local operations.”
Bingham said Paris Transport’s 50,000-square-foot warehouse will be a huge benefit for customers. The acquisition will also allow shippers additional capacity through Bulkmatic’s terminal network, he said.
“The acquisition has been in the works for about six months, and the warehouse and their customer base were a big draw for us,” Bingham told FreightWaves. “We’ve been working closely with the folks at Paris to come up with a win-win solution for everybody.”
“The two organizations have a similar customer focus and our networks match up very well,” Smittkamp said in a statement. “We believe this combination will improve service to PTIs long-standing customers by tapping into Bulkmatic’s regional capacity.”
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re looking to add throughput into our network,” Bingham told FreightWaves. “We believe that density really improves our ability to react to our customers.”
Bingham said the acquisition is going to add to the company’s regional capacity in Indiana and Illinois.
“It’s also going to give us the base of operations in Indianapolis that we haven’t had before,” he said.
