The final months of 2021 saw a flurry of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the logistics industry. In the last-mile carrier sector, UPS acquired point-to-point carrier Roadie in September. A month later, regional last-mile carrier Lasership acquired another regional carrier, OnTrac, for a reported $1.3 billion.
There is speculation about whether these are one-offs or more of a trend that will carry into the future. AxleHire CEO believes the latter and shares his reasoning in a recent opinion article in Future of Sourcing.
Adam Bryant believes there are at least five good reasons why you will see M&A activity continue in the last-mile carrier space in the future. The current economic climate supports this, with logistics companies looking at continued growth in e-commerce while investors are holding large amounts of cash and looking to cash in on promising newcomers in the space. In addition, some carriers are looking to expand their regional coverage, and gaining new markets through merger/acquisition is the quickest and least painful way to accomplish this.
We believe the flurry of M&A activity in the last-mile logistics industry is the precursor to a wave of activity in the coming years. Shippers will benefit from better service levels and cost containment. Carriers will see influxes of cash that will allow for new and creative service opportunities. At AxleHire, we’re looking forward to riding that wave.
