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February 16, 2000 10:08 AM, EST

Companies that haul containers and trailers from ports and rail terminals — long considered the weakest link in the transportation supply chain — are being targeted in two separate efforts to consolidate local intermodal carriers into national powerhouses.

Esco Transportation, a publicly owned company based in Houston, just completed the first in a planned series of acquisitions of intermodal drayage and short-haul trucking companies. It has paid cash and stock valued at $530,000 for Quantum Transportation, which serves Shakopee, Minn., and Ripon, Calif.

Another company set to launch a nationwide roll-up of intermodal trucking companies is Roadlink USA, formed by Houston businessman John Oren. As one of the founders of U.S. Delivery System, Oren helped the company put together more than 70 local courier firms in the early 1990s to create a nationwide same-day delivery service.

Both firms say their goal is to improve the operating efficiency of intermodal trucking companies by standardizing operations and implementing new technology in response to demands for better information about shipments moving over the road from rail terminals and port facilities.

For the full story, see the Feb. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. .