PS Logistics (CCJ Top 250, No. 29) entered the new year in growth mode. Not even three weeks into 2024, the Birmingham, Alabama-based trucking conglomerate has announced two acquisitions: Buddy Moore Trucking a week ago and, Tuesday through subsidiary Blair Logistics, the flatbed division of Kenly, North Carolina-based ELS. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
ELS will retain its heavy haul and intermodal divisions and operate under the same name. The flatbed division will now operate as Blair.
"The ELS flatbed division will be complementary to our existing over-length operations and allow us to provide enhanced geographic coverage and service offerings to our customers while simultaneously providing greater opportunities to drivers," said Scott Smith, chief executive officer and co-founder of PS Logistics.
The transaction cements PS Logistics – already one of the largest privately held transportation and logistics companies in the U.S. – as one of the largest 53-foot flatbed carriers in the country with more than 500 power units and 1,250 over-length trailers.
Headquartered in Kenly, North Carolina, ELS was founded in 2009 by Tim Butts and operates as a family-owned business. ELS’s flatbed division maintains a fleet of more than 90 tractors and more than 240 over-length flatbed trailers, primarily hauling steel, industrial materials, lumber and other building materials.
“ELS has worked in similar geographies and with similar customers as PS Logistics’ operating companies for many years, and we’ve been able to see firsthand how well they service customers and set up drivers for success," said Tim Butts, founder and owner of ELS. "We’re excited that the flatbed division will now be a part of a larger organization that maintains a driver-first culture.”
PS Logistics has acquired more than two dozen trucking operations and five non-asset logistics operations across the country since 2016, four of them in the last six months.
