Transplace buys Yusen’s intermodal, freight brokerage

TMS provider says the purchase means its customers will be better able to take advantage of intermodal.    Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology, said Monday that it has acquired Yusen Logistics (Americas) Inc.’s intermodal marketing company and over-the-road freight brokerage group.
   Transplace said the deal “expands Transplace’s geographic footprint and intermodal network and complements the company’s mission to deliver outstanding transportation management, intermodal, brokerage and cross-border trade management services to shippers.”  
   Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Transplace is owned by TPG Capital.
   Yusen Logistics (Americas) Inc. is a subsidiary of Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Japan’s largest shipping company.
   “Acquiring Yusen Logistics’ North American intermodal operations further supports Transplace’s commitment to strategic growth in order to build a competitive advantage for our company and our customers,” said Frank McGuigan, CEO of Transplace. “Our customers will benefit from the network synergy with Transplace’s current intermodal and over-the-road footprint, resulting in better opportunities for more effective execution of their intermodal shipments as well as mode conversion.”
   In a statement, Yusen said the sale is part of a “strategic aligment” and that it had “sold this portion of our business portfolio to focus on our core services. These services include international freight forwarding, integrated solutions (customized logistics) and contract logistics services and they will remain unimpacted by this change, along with the capability to provide transportation services to support them.”
   The newly acquired intermodal operations are located in Jacksonville, Fla.; Cincinnati; Memphis, Tenn.; Chicago; and Dallas. It will operate as part of Transplace’s intermodal division, Celtic Intermodal, which is led by President Doug Punzel.
   Punzel said, “As more shippers are looking to integrate intermodal into their transportation operations, Transplace is committed to best positioning itself to enable its customers to take advantage of the opportunities available with intermodal. The addition of Yusen Logistics’ intermodal operations will allow our customers to better take advantage of this highly effective and efficient mode of transportation in a time of high transportation rates and capacity constraints.”
   McGuigan told American Shipper in an interview, “This is incredibly accretive to our Celtic business.” 
   He explained that Yusen and Transplace did not have a lot of common customers and that the deal will result in a “significant increase” to Transplace’s intermodal business.
   “The lanes that they move in are very complementary to the networks we manage, and so all in all it is very additive to our current Celtic business, to our dray providers and the rail that serve us. They have a national business, but they have some key offices that we’re picking up. They’re adding dray providers we don’t have and they’re also adding scale and network synergy.”
   McGuigan said that 2018 has been a “fantastic rebound year for intermodal and we expect that to continue into 2019 and 2020.”
   He said some shippers are being motivated to use intermodal because of lack of trucking capacity, but he also noted “a lot of shippers have environmental sustainability initiatives” and intermodal can help them reduce their carbon footprint.