TFI Inks Fifth ’24 Takeover With Tank Truck Carrier Purchase
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TFI International acquired Entreposage Marco Inc. for an undisclosed sum, its fifth takeover in 2024 and second of a food-grade liquids hauler, the company announced in a LinkedIn post.
Based in Montreal, TFI ranks No. 4 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and continues to grow through acquisitions.
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec-based Entreposage — a stainless steel tank hauler — specializes in transporting edible products, including various oils, liquid cream yeast, sweeteners and fruit juices, said TFI.
In May TFI acquired Quebec-based specialized truckload carrier Transport MJ Lavoie for an undisclosed sum.
St-Remi, Quebec-based MJ Lavoie, which was founded in 1992, specializes in hauling truckloads of compostable and recyclable materials, along with residential waste. That includes metal, moss, dead leaves, residential waste and wood as well as wood chips.
Earlier this year, TFI snapped up less-than-truckload carrier Hercules Forwarding Inc., bulk transportation specialist Sharp Trucking Services and food-grade liquids carrier LJW Tank Lines.
That followed 12 acquisitions in 2023, headlined by the blockbuster $1 billion Christmastime purchase of flatbed specialist Daseke Inc.
Daseke’s size is not hampering the pace of TFI takeovers, with CEO Alain Bédard confirming during the company’s past couple of earnings calls that more tuck-in deals were near certainties.
Bédard’s dealmaking this year has largely focused on the specialty truckload space or in the U.S. logistics arena, with Hercules being the exception; LTL carrier Hercules focuses on intra-U.S. and U.S.-to-Canada cross-border transportation.
However, turning around TFI’s U.S. LTL operations is a key focus for the company in 2024, with the March Hercules deal aimed at speeding up the process. TFI ranks No. 8 on TT’s list of the top LTL carriers in North America.
The specialty truckload acquisitions such as those of Entreposage Marco or MJ Lavoie, meanwhile, are intended to bolster TFI’s truckload operations ahead of an expected spinoff in 2025.
Operating income at the TFI truckload unit slumped 41% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024 to $41.5 million from $70.5 million, primarily on lower volumes.
Bédard blamed that partly, however, on a first quarter that was “way, way worse than expected.”
“I would never have anticipated ’24 was going to be so rough in terms of the freight environment,” Bédard said, adding that the ongoing freight recession was unlikely to end before the start of 2025.
The company’s Q1 net income totaled $92.8 million, compared with $111.9 million in Q1 2023.
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