Tropical affiliate buys Deluxe Freight

Tropical affiliate buys Deluxe Freight    The parent company of the container shipping company Tropical Shipping has reached an agreement to purchase Deluxe Freight Inc., a non-vessel-operating common carrier serving the Cayman Islands since 1996.
   The acquisition will be made by Birdsall Inc., the parent company of Tropical Shipping, a leading carrier to the Bahamas and Caribbean, including the Cayman Islands.
   Deluxe moves both less-than-containerload and full-containerload freight. It will remain headquartered in Miami and will operate as a separate brand.
   'Cayman is a key market for Tropical and our most significant in terms of less-than-containerload revenue. While the acquisition is small in relation to our total volumes, the Deluxe brand addition expands our service offerings in a market that is important to our long-term success,' said Rick Murrell, Tropical’s chairman and president.
   Willie Munoz, president of Deluxe Freight, will remain in his current position.
   The deal with Deluxe follows Tropical’s purchase in 2008 of the Miami-based NVOCC Caribtrans.
   Birdsall and Tropical are subsidiaries of Nicor Inc., a Naperville, Ill.-based natural gas utility holding company.