Universal Logistics heads west

Purchased Southern Counties Express has been serving California ports for more than 25 years.    Universal Logistics Holdings Inc. has acquired Southern Counties Express Inc. for $65 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments.
   Headquartered in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., Southern Counties has been serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for more than 25 years and offers full-service harbor drayage, transloading, warehousing and project cargo services.
   Southern Counties will operate as part of Universal Intermodal and is expected to be immediately accretive, Universal Logistics said.
   For 2017, Southern Counties posted operating revenues of $54.4 million, compared to Universal’s $1.22 billion in operating revenues for the full year.
   Based in Warren, Mich., Universal is an asset-light provider of customized transportation and logistics solutions throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Colombia.
   Universal posted a net income of $17.7 million for the first quarter of 2018, a sharp increase from $2.7 million for last year’s first quarter amid a lower effective tax rate. Universal’s operating revenues for the first quarter of this year totaled $365.9 million, up 20 percent year-over-year. Intermodal services revenues for the quarter totaled $54.9 million, or 15 percent of Universal’s total operating revenues, and included $9.8 million of revenues from Universal’s $34.9 million acquisition of Fore Transportation in February of this year.