Express-1 Acquires 3PL First Class Expediting

By Dan Leone, Staff Reporter

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Express-1 Inc., parent company of Express-1 Expedited Solutions, acquired First Class Expediting Services in a deal that may become a template for future acquisitions, Express-1’s chief financial officer said.

Express-1 did not disclose financial terms of the purchase, but Mark Patterson, Express-1’s CFO, said the deal provided a relatively low-cost point of entry into regional expedited transportation.

“Quite frankly, we could take [the regional model] into other areas of the country,” said Patterson.

“We think other opportunities will manifest themselves in the next six to eight months.”

First Class had about $4 million in revenue in the year ended Dec. 31, Express-1 said in a statement announcing the deal.

First Class will be folded into the Express-1 Expedited Solutions unit.

Bill Champe, president of First Class, will remain with the company to manage the new business.

As part of Express-1, the former First Class will continue to service the upper Midwest, specifically southeast Michigan, Patterson said.

Compared with the 450-mile length of haul in Express-1’s usual expedited lanes, a typical First Class freight lane runs about 150 miles, Patterson said.

Access to this smaller network has already paid dividends for Express-1, Patterson said, by winning the company some additional business from existing customers with regional shipping needs.

“We have some customers who, as soon as they found out that we purchased First Class, called us up and said, ‘We have a need in that area,’ ” said Patterson.

Common operating models and business infrastructure helped speed the First Class integration, Patterson noted.

As Express-1 does, First Class uses a network of owner-operator truckers for its expedited freight services, which it arranges on behalf of shippers, said Patterson.

In addition, both companies use transportation software designed by GPSNet of Windsor, Ontario.

The common software platform made it easier to relocate First Class’ back office functions such as accounting, safety and compliance to an Express-1 facility, Patterson said.

“The fact that he used the same software facilitates integration,” he said.

“It allowed us to basically run [First Class’] operations as a sales and dispatch office and bring the back office back to Buchanan,” Mich., where Express-1 is headquartered, Patterson said.