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PS Logistics makes another flatbed buy, acquiring Diamond State

John Kingston
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PS Logistics continues to grow its flatbed business, closing on a deal to acquire Diamond State Trucking.

Diamond State is based in Malvern, Arkansas, and dates back to 1928, according to a prepared statement released by PS Logistics, as well as the Diamond State website. The sale also includes the assets of RDA Tractor LLC and RDA Trailer LLC, which all make up Diamond State.

According to information in Carrier Lists, Diamond has 43 drivers and 42 power units, all of which are leased. It also has 50 trailers, according to the Carrier Lists data. It runs in all of the Lower 48 states.

No sales price was disclosed for the transaction.


“The Diamond State Trucking acquisition continues PS Logistics’ acquisition strategy of partnering with families and owners within the flatbed trucking segment,” PS said in its statement. “Since 2012, PS Logistics has successfully acquired 18 trucking and brokerage operations.”

PS’ statement said the acquisition will “further strengthen PS Logistics’ operations in the Southeast.” The statement cited just one terminal in the acquisition, in the headquarters city of Malvern. 

PS is based in Birmingham, Alabama. In a story about the acquisition, the Birmingham Business Journal said PS was the 11th-biggest company on the publication’s Birmingham 100 list, with revenue last year of approximately $907 million. 

This is the second PS acquisition this year. In February, it acquired Southeast Logistics, which included the assets of three companies: Houndstooth Transportation, C Cross Transportation and Viking Transportation. That was a significantly bigger acquisition than Diamond, as the company had about 250 drivers. 


Southeast also was a flatbed company that specialized in construction, steel, and oil and gas shipments.

Last year, the asset light division of PS Logistics, TA Services, bought Celadon Logistics, the freight brokerage and managed transportation business of the now-liquidating Celadon. 

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.