A recent acquisition by Hirschbach Motor Lines positions the company as a major refrigerated transportation player.
The operation is reportedly purchasing John Christner Trucking (JCT), a Sapulpa, Oklahoma-based refrigerated carrier. Merging the assets will result in upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue based on contracts and the ability to deploy more than 3,000 tractors and 5,000 refrigerated trailers. Add $150 million in third-party logistics capacity to the mix, and Hirschbach is expected to rank among the largest reefer outfits on the American landscape.
“These two organizations should be united and fit together like two puzzle pieces. JCT covers the map coast-to-coast along the southern tier of the U.S., while Hirschbach’s density is largely east of the Rocky Mountains. In addition to adding JCT’s 800 trucks, Hirschbach will be able to offer its customers access to JCT’s very successful logistics operation,” Hirschbach owner and CEO Brad Pinchuk reportedly said. “We’re both driver-centric organizations that focus on taking care of our people, so they can take care of our customers. We’re proud to be truckers and the roles we play in servicing our customers and feeding this great country.”
John Christner founded JCT in 1986 after 20 years of hauling produce from California across the country. His sons, Daryl and Danny, grew the family-owned operation to 800 tractors and diversified the operation into logistics. Like other relatively modest mom-and-pop trucking organizations, mergers and acquisitions seem to make companies more stable and prepared to compete.
Members of the Christner family will reportedly hold leadership roles going forward. Current truckers and non-driving associates are also expected to remain with the organization. Retaining loyal, hard-working people and maintaining the JCT culture was essential to the Christner family agreeing to the deal.
“It’s truly an honor to have been selected by the Christner family to be entrusted with their baby. He (John Christner) built his company on the values of hard work and a relentless pursuit of excellence, always walking the walk and delivering what he promised,” Pinchuk reportedly said. “We’ll run JCT as a separate company with (current CEO) Danny Christner as the president. He and (Hirschbach president) Dan Wallace will be joined at the hip finding ways to service our combined customers, take care of our team members, and run as efficiently as possible.”
Existing JCT customers will not necessarily experience changes to contracts or services due to the acquisition. However, capacity has been increasingly tight, rejection rates have spiked, and spot rates for January are reportedly up by 30 percent, year-over-year.
The JCT acquisition stands as the second in under one year. Hirschbach purchased Lessor in June 2021, a reefer outfit with upwards of 300 temperature-controlled units and 200 truck driving team members.
Sources: fleetowner.com, thetrucker.com
I’ve never understood why some company buys some other failing Jerky outfit and wants to turn a buck, must be the ups way buy really high take it deep then sell to Canadians for cheap
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Oh ok thanks for this pointless article. Hirschbach can’t keep drivers with that robbery of a least purchase plan. Now they buying up smaller companies. For what? More trucks? News flash I still won’t come back to work for you. Now I know I need not to look at jct, if I get to looking for another company. They are Hirschbach now.