Hirschbach Motor Lines acquires fellow refrigerated carrier Lessors

Second reefer deal in a week

Hirschbach expands its temperature-controlled operations (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Refrigerated carrier Hirschbach Motor Lines announced Wednesday that it has acquired Eagan, Minnesota-based carrier Lessors Inc.

The acquisition of Lessors, also a temperature-controlled operator with approximately 200 drivers and nearly 300 power units, brings the Hirschbach fleet to 2,400 drivers and owner-operators and more than 3,500 trailers.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Lessors was represented by Transport Capital Partners.

“We’re very excited to welcome the Lessors drivers along with their mechanics and office staff to the Hirschbach family,” said Brad Pinchuk, CEO and owner of Dubuque, Iowa-based Hirschbach. “It’s an organization I’ve admired for decades.”

Pinchuk said Lessors’ service and safety record and low driver turnover were some of the factors behind the decision to acquire the almost 40-year-old fleet. Lessors specializes in transporting time-sensitive, temperature-controlled freight out of three terminals in Eagan, Dover, Florida, and Caldwell, Idaho.

The deal will allow Hirschbach to expand capacity in both its over-the-road and dedicated segments.

This announcement follows another recent acquisition involving two refrigerated truckload carriers. On June 16, Heyl Truck Lines announced it had acquired regional carrier Holiday Express in a deal that combined two Iowa-based reefer carriers.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden.

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Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.