News / Schneider boosts dedicated fleet with Cowan buy – and eyes further M&A

Transport and logistics giant Schneider National, ranked ninth on the Transport Topics top 100 list of for-hire carriers in North America, is taking over Cowan Systems for $390m, plus some $31m for the smaller carrier’s real estate assets.

Baltimore-based Cowan, which operates across over 40 locations in the eastern and mid-Atlantic US, provides dedicated service to clients in the retail, food and beverage and industrial and building materials verticals. It has a fleet of 1,800 trucks and 7,500 trailers, plus a contracted carrier network with 500 owner-operators. Last year it reported revenues of $670m.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.

Schneider management said Cowan would operate under its own brand name as a wholly owned subsidiary and cost synergies would be realised from the integration of administrative and support functions.

The addition of another contract carrier into the fold strengthens Schneider’s dedicated business further, following the acquisitions of Midwest Logistics in 2022 and M&M Transport last year.

“This [Cowan] acquisition aligns with Schneider’s long-term vision to have customer-centric dedicated solutions as the cornerstone of its truckload segment,” commented Schneider CEO Mark Rourke. “By complementing our organic dedicated growth success with transactions like this, we are broadening our presence to provide greater value to our customers and stakeholders.”

The takeover brings Schneider’s fleet of dedicated tractors to 8,400, about 70% of its truckload fleet, making it one of the largest dedicated transport providers in the US. In terms of revenue, the addition of Cowan brings Schneider’s dedicated volume close to $2n a year.

Since 2017 the company’s dedicated business has grown on average by 9% a year.

The dedicated truck count rose 4% in the third quarter. Mr Rourke said dedicated business picked up during the period, adding that several new openings were in the pipeline to come onstream next year.

The improvement could not forestall a 3% drop in overall revenues in the quarter, with revenues in the truckload segment down 1%, to $532.2m.

And Mr Rourke indicated that Schneider wasn’t done with takeovers and looks to expand further in the dedicated trucking segment.

“We’re continuing to look at both organic, with a very strong pipeline, and inorganic opportunities to continue that,” he confirmed.