BNSF Logistics acquires TTS

BNSF Logistics’ purchase of Transportation Technology Services will expand its wind turbine component transport services, as well as other project cargoes, by rail.    BNSF Logistics, a sister company of Class I railroad BNSF, has acquired Transportation Technology Services (TTS), a Southlake, Texas-based engineering and logistics services firm specializing in project cargoes.
   Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
   TTS was started in 2001 and has quickly become a noted specialist in the handling of large wind turbine components on railcars, an area in which BNSF Logistics, based in Flower Mound, Texas, has stepped up its investment and activity in recent years.
   TTS brings to BNSF Logistics’ portfolio a fleet of nearly 2,000 railcars for various project cargo shippers, of which 1,200 are equipped with special fixtures designed to handle wind turbine components such as blades, tower sections, and nacelles. Similar to BNSF Logistics, TTS has also developed a number of transload sites throughout the Midwest and Southwest that allow for railcars to be unloaded and met by trucks for final delivery.
   “With the ongoing development of BNSFL’s Blade Runner technology to handle ever lengthening turbine blades via ocean and rail, the combined company will have an extensive and flexible fleet of wind component handling systems in North America,” BNSF Logistics said in a statement. “Between the two companies, BNSFL and TTS have collectively developed and managed nearly 50 unique project cargo transload sites across the U.S. over the past six years.”
   TTS will become the U.S. Rail, Project Cargo and Engineering Services division of BNSF Logistics, which focuses on wind energy, oil and gas, heavy machinery and engineering project shipment logistics.
   Scott Landrum, TTS’s founder and president, and the company’s General Manager John Dalman, will remain with BNSF Logistics to head the new division. TTS’s current staff has also been retained, with additional hires expected in the months ahead.