Forward Air acquires another drayage provider

Asset-light transportation provider Forward Air announced Monday it has entered into an agreement to acquire intermodal drayage provider Chickasaw Container Services (CCS).

The transaction is expected to close in November and will be funded with cash on hand. The purchase price was not disclosed.

For more than 30 years, CCS has been providing depot, drayage and trucking services out of its headquarters in Mobile, Alabama. The company opened a second site in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2000. Both sites also offer storage and sales of containers and chassis as well as repair and inventory management. More than 3,000 units can be stored per location.

CCS has 67 trucks registered, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data.

The deal allows Forward (NASDAQ: FWRD) to expand its intermodal offering to include Mobile. It has an existing operation in the Memphis market, Value Logistics, which it acquired in 2020.

Forward acquired a Chicago-based drayage outfit in early 2021 and a pair of intermodal service providers in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area a year ago. In May, it announced the addition of its first drayage provider on the West Coast near Seattle.

“Our intermodal business has been a key growth area for Forward over the past few years,” Chairman, President and CEO Tom Schmitt said in a news release following the market close. “Chickasaw Container Services boasts an experienced team and shares our commitment to precision execution.”

Forward’s intermodal segment generated revenue of $395 million for the 12-month period ended Sept. 30., almost twice the amount it generated in 2020. Intermodal is just one part of Forward’s $2 billion freight platform.

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