Liquid Transport to Buy MTI
he transaction, subject to due diligence, regulatory approval and other conditions, follows the purchase of assets of Kaw Transport Co. of Kansas City, Mo., in March 1998 (TT, 3-30-98, p. 4).
LTC President Lanny L. Wilhelm said MTI will operate as a subsidiary from its Stillwater headquarters and terminals in the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minn.
All employees, owner-operators and management, including former president and co-owner Chris Ogren, will stay on to run the business, he said.
The addition of MTI will boost LTC’s annual revenue to more than $100 million in 1999. Both companies do a substantial amount of dedicated hauling.
Together, the two fleets will operate 22 terminals, almost 700 power units and 1,250 trailers.
“Our goal is to have 1,000 power units and 2,000 trailers,” Mr. Wilhelm said in a telephone interview last week. “We want to be in a position to compete with anyone and maintain our small senior staff level.”
LTC is headed by Chairman Rex Ecoff, whose father, Dave Ecoff, started Ecoff Trucking with a single tractor-trailer in Fortville, Ind., in 1936. Ecoff Trucking acquired Liquid Transport Corp in 1959 and has operated under that name since the early 1980s. Mr. Wilhelm joined the company as vice president and general manager in 1982.
The purchase of MTI and Kaw reflects LTC’s strategy of achieving growth by acquiring well-managed carriers with profitable and safe tank truck operations, Mr. Wilhelm said.
He predicts more consolidation among tank truck carriers. “Over the next 24 months or so, we’ll see a tremendous amount,” he said.
The merger activity is being driven by shippers that are trying to lower costs by reducing the number of carriers they deal with and by carriers that are seeking efficiencies by spreading costs over a larger volume of business, he said.
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