News / Kuehne + Nagel swoops on Tennessee drayage provider IMC Logistics

Kuehne + Nagel has acquired a majority 51% stake in a IMC Logistics, a Tennessee drayage provider with an annual throughput of 2m teu.

The transaction is set for completion during Q1 25, and while the purchase price was undisclosed, Loadstar Premium calculated the 51% stake would likely cost the Swiss forwarder up to around $400m, in a “best case for the seller” scenario.

IMC has some 49 locations and 1,700 employees and generated $800m in 2023.

“International sea logistics is a highly complex business with many interfaces and stakeholders, in which US trade flows are of central importance,” said Kuehne+Nagel CEO Stefan Paul.

“IMC’s range of capabilities significantly expands our service offering and allows us to develop even more attractive solutions for the value chains of our sea freight customers.”

Joerg Wolle, chairman of K+N International, described North America as a “key growth market for our business”, and added: “Acquiring a majority stake in IMC represents another important strategic step.

“We are further expanding our leading position in North America for the benefit of our customers and closer cooperation with our partners, particularly the carriers.”

The acquisition could grant K+N preferential access to trucking services at a time when the US is awaiting its next period of instability, with the east coast ILA port strikes set for January. One air cargo expert told The Loadstar last month that ocean and drayage rates would be “expected to increase as capacity dries up” in the event of a strike.

Drayage services can be one of the first dominoes to fall in periods of instability, such as during the Covid pandemic, when the lack of onward transhipment options and shortage of empty containers snarled up port capacity and kept vessels queueing for berths rather than being unloaded.

This could also mark the end of a conservative phase of market realignment for K+N, which this year embarked on a “streamlining” drive for “further efficiency gains and profitable growth”, following weak results in 2023.