Two more open deck trucking companies have merged with Addison, Texas-based Daseke, Inc.
Manitoba-based Big Freight SystemsBecoming part of Daseke are the Schilli Companies, headquartered in Remington, Indiana, and Big Freight Systems Inc., headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. According to a statement from Daseke, combined, Schilli and Big Freight’s total 2016 estimated revenue was $119 million and $13 million of adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization), of which an estimated 40 percent is asset-light or logistics related.
“We’re proud to welcome Schilli and Big Freight, as well as each of their outstanding teams to the Daseke family,” said Don Daseke, president and CEO of Daseke. “Both companies are industry elites in the open deck specialized market, and will bring new dimensions to Daseke’s depth of services and geographic footprint. With the contribution of asset-light revenue, a first-class industrial warehousing operation, a new Midwestern presence, as well as an even stronger presence in the Canadian market, all of Daseke’s family of companies are able to benefit from our synergies and growing scale of operations.
“Our ongoing strategy is to look for companies that are not for sale, companies like Schilli and Big Freight. A key objective of our recent decision to go public was to accelerate the company’s consolidation in the open deck specialized freight sector. Schilli and Big Freight are a natural fit with our operating companies, and these new mergers are a crucial and important step in our journey.”
Daseke went public in February.
The Schilli Companies began in 1961 when Ben Schilli (CEO Tom Schilli’s father) purchased two operating companies formed in the 1940s. Tom Schilli joined the company in 1968 and assumed full ownership of the company in the early 1970s. Schilli’s services include open deck specialized transportation as well as industrial warehousing and distribution, including export packaging and free trade zone access in Savannah, Georgia.
Big Freight Systems, Inc. was founded in 1948 by Seaton “Red” Coleman, and has since become a leading industrial carriers and warehouses to serve all Canadian provinces and 19 U.S. states.
Daseke, Inc. is the largest owner and a leading consolidator of open deck specialized transportation solutions in North America and is comprised of 11 companies with over 3,500 trucks and 7,300 open deck specialized trailers. Those companies include Smokey Point, E.W. Wylie, J. Grady Randolph, Central Oregon Truck Company, Lone Star Transportation, Bulldog Hiway Express, Hornady Transportation, The Boyd Companies – including Boyd Bros. Transportation, WTI Transport.
