°®¶¹´«Ã½

February 9, 2000 10:30 AM, EST

TransForce Inc., one of the most active trucking consolidators in Canada, last week agreed to acquire TST Solutions of Mississauga, Ontario, for $85 million Canadian ($59 million U.S.).

The deal would nearly double the size of TransForce’s trucking operations, making it one of Canada’s largest less-than-truckload carriers and increasing the company’s presence in the growing U.S.-Canada transborder freight market.

TransForce, which changed its name from Cabano Kingsway last April, historically has provided LTL trucking services in eastern Canada. Over the past three years, however, under an aggressive new management team, the company has made more than a dozen acquisitions, mostly of small truckload and specialized carriers, to expand its freight-hauling services throughout Canada and the United States.

TST Solutions (formerly TNT Canada) operates 1,900 tractors and trailers and employs 1,200 people in six divisions. The largest division is TST Overland Express, which provides direct LTL service throughout Canada and exchanges freight with a group of U.S.-based regional LTL carriers, called ExpressLink, which includes Estes Express of Richmond, Va.; G.I. Trucking of La Mirada, Calif.; and Lakeville Motor Express of St. Paul, Minn.

For the full story, see the Feb. 7 print edition of Transport Topics. .