TransForce's TL Division Buys Chicago-Based Brokerage
Optimal was founded in 2011, and its president and founder, Noam Frankel, will remain with the brokerage, Transport America said in its statement announcing the purchase.
Transport America is a subsidiary of TransForce Inc., the Saint-Laurent, Quebec-based transportation holding company that ranks No. 9 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in the United States and Canada. Transport America has its headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota, and is TransForce’s lead truckload carrier in the United States.
Terms of the deal were not released.
"Optimal Freight has strengths in van, flatbed, refrigerated services and overdimensional operations,” Frankel said. "We look forward to utilizing Transport America's extensive full truckload and intermodal operations.”
TA President Keith Klein said Optimal’s truckload and less-than-truckload brokerage services will be a significant addition for Transport America, which had only a small brokerage office before the deal closed on Dec. 1.
Klein said Frankel will continue to operate the brokerage under the Optimal name and that he will try to expand the customer base into Canada and Mexico from its U.S. base. He said Frankel was the major seller of Optimal’s ownership but not the only one.
