FedEx buys LTL firm; Canadian ops included
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Parcel delivery giant FedEx Corp. is acquiring Watkins Motor Lines, a North American LTL general goods carrier, for $780 million.
Included in the deal for Lakeland, Fla.-based Watkins, is the company’s Canadian operations, Watkins Canada Express, which will be rebranded FedEx Freight Canada.
The deal is expected to be complete by next year.
Analysts estimate Watkins generated just over $1 billion in revenue in 2005. Like FedEx, Watkins is a non-union carrier. As a so-called less-than-truckload (LTL) shipper, it consolidates smaller loads into a single truck shipment.
FedEx already has its own LTL unit, FedEx Freight, which it built out of various trucking acquisitions between 1998 and 2001.
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