Private equity group buys RoadLink USA

Private equity group buys RoadLink USA Private investment fund Fenway Partners said Monday it has acquired RoadLink USA, the nation’s largest independent intermodal drayage company specifically serving ports and rail ramps.
   RoadLink USA of Jacksonville, Fla., has 50 facilities and 1,500 trucks to provide local shuttle service between carrier hubs and shipper distribution centers, as well as ocean container-to-rail transloading and warehousing services.
   The acquisition is the 14th overall in the logistics and transportation sector by New York-based Fenway Partners. A majority of its portfolio is packaged together under the management of a company called Greatwide Logistics Services.
   Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
   RoadLink is the first investment made by Fenway’s Capital Fund III, the third investment partnership organized by the firm. RoadLink fits Fenway’s strategy of investing in profitable enterprises. The intermodal sector is the fastest growing segment of the rail industry and is expected to experience continued growth as imports continue to rise.
   RoadLink itself has grown through a series of acquisitions during the past six years, cobbling together local companies into a national network. The original business was formed in 2000 through the simultaneous merger of seven companies. Six more companies have since been acquired.
   RoadLink, with about $200 million in revenues, primarily relies on owner-operators acting with dispatch assistance from the company to move freight. About three-fourths of the company’s capacity comes from independent truckers.
   Fenway officials said they intend to help RoadLink expand its network and capacity.
   “We see significant opportunities to extend RoadLink’s functionality, further enhance customer service and expand its geographic presence,” John Anderson, head of Fenway’s transportation and logistics operating affiliate BigWheel Partners, said in a statement. Fenway retained the RoadLink management team and installed Anderson as chairman of the trucking company.
   Marc Kramer, Fenway’s managing partner, said in an interview that the buy-out firm will “be very aggressive” in pursuing other companies to add to the RoadLink portfolio.
   “We’ve already identified a number of acquisitions that will help expand our geographical footprint, expand our penetration with existing customers and enhance our density in existing geographies,” he said. The port and rail shuttle business is so fragmented that shippers are looking for companies that can provide the convenience and reliability in multiple locations rather than having to shop for service at each port or rail head.
   RoadLink will remain a separate entity and not be combined with Fenway’s Greatwide Logistics Services, Kramer said. Fenway has rolled up nearly a dozen trucking and logistics firms under the Greatwide banner to provide shippers with multiple types of services.
   RoadLink’s proprietary information system gives it the ability over mom-and-pop drayage operators to track shipments in real-time and manage the chassis and containers under its control at higher utilization rates, enabling it to better control costs.
   Bridge Terminal Transport, a subsidiary of container vessel operator Maersk Line, is the largest marine drayage company by revenue in the United States.