Ryder System Inc., the transportation and supply chain service provider, has acquired Cardinal Logistics in a move that it says strengthens Ryder’s position as a customized dedicated contract carrier in North America.
The deal increases Ryder’s scale and network density with the addition of 200 operating locations, 2,900 power vehicles, and 3,400 professional drivers. Based in Concord, N.C., Cardinal predominantly provides dedicated fleets and professional drivers to service complex route structures across distribution centers, suppliers, and stores, as well as complementary freight brokerage services; and, to a lesser extent, last-mile delivery and contract logistics services. Cardinal primarily serves the consumer packaged goods (CPG), omnichannel, grocery, building products, automotive, and industrial verticals.
To aid continuity in the transition, Tom Hostetler and Vin McLoughlin, who founded Cardinal in 1997—and both of whom spent the first eight years of their careers at Ryder in the 1980s and early 1990s—will also join Ryder.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“With complementary contractual services in many of the same industries, we gain greater economies of scale, and we can provide even more flexibility for transportation networks when seasonality and fluctuating demand inhibit the continuous use of resources,” says Steve W. Martin, senior vice president of dedicated transportation for Ryder. “Combined with our end-to-end visibility and collaboration technology RyderShare, we can deliver tremendous value for customers looking for more dynamic and resilient transportation solutions.”
Ryder has been spending widely in recent weeks to expand its service offerings, unveiling a self-driving truck deal with Kodiak Robotics, opening a million-square-foot distribution center in Indiana for Lexmark, launching an electric vehicle advisory package stocked with 4,000 new electric vans, acquiring the contract manufacturing and warehousing firm Impact Fulfillment Services, and building a Silicon Valley technology lab, all in the past six months.
