Intermodal shipping: Hub Group subsidiary acquires Domestic Transport Inc.

Freight transportation and logistics services provider Hub Group Inc. said today that earlier this month its Comtrak Logistics Inc. subsidiary, which offers national drayage and truckload services, acquired Domestic Transport Inc., a Pacific, Washington-based provider of intermodal drayage services.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“This acquisition is well aligned with our goal of growing Hub Group’s drayage network,” said Chris Kravas, Chief Intermodal Officer for Hub Group, in a statement.
“This is the 25th Comtrak terminal in our network and it gives us a significant drayage operation in the Seattle market.”

Launched in 2005, Domestic Transport has expanded from a one-truck operation hauling containers out of the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to a 22-driver operation handling container deliveries in Washington State and throughout the Pacific Northwest, according to Hub.

In January, Hub announced that two new Comtrak terminals were opened in Indianapolis and Milwaukee for customer service and operational reasons, Comtrak President Jim Ronchetto told LM.

In terms of shipper benefits that come with opening these new terminals, Ronchetto said that having these new terminals allows Comtrak to shuttle loads more efficiently with terminal locations located closer to actual freight locations. And he added it allows the company to prepare for anticipated legislative changes and serve a wider area while factoring in possible changes like truck driver hours-of-service.

And in early April the Hub Group acquired asset-light transportation company Exel Transportation Services (ETS), a subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net, for $83 million. Exel Transportation Services was renamed at Mode Transportation.

Mode is comprised of roughly 300 Independent Business Owners (IBO) that sell and operate the business throughout North America, with corporate offices in Dallas and Memphis, a company-managed operation in Dallas, and a temperature-protected services division called Temstar in Lombard, Illinois, which has 500 temperature-controlled trailers. Mode will be based in Dallas.

Hub officials were not available for additional comments regarding the acquisition of Domestic Transport at press time.