Canada Cartage to acquire GTI Group, expand into U.S.

Canada Cartage has acquired Montreal-based GTI Group, moving into the U.S. market and potentially becoming a $1-billion revenue company.

GTI provides brokerage, transportation management, freight forwarding, drayage, intermodal, warehousing and oversize trucking services in Canada and the U.S. While financial details weren’t disclosed, Canada Cartage said in a release it expects to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue with the addition of GTI.

The acquisition marks Canada Cartage’s first foray into the U.S. market, where GTI has offices in Houston, Texas, Des Moines, Iowa, and Franklin, Tenn.

“We are extremely excited to be joining forces with The GTI Group,” said Canada Cartage president and CEO Jeff Lindsay. “Like us, GTI has grown significantly over the past few years and has a portfolio of complementary service offerings that build upon Canada Cartage’s solution line-up, and also adds some new, complementary services to ours.”  

He added: “We have been looking for an opportunity to enter the U.S. market for several years but have been waiting for the right acquisition to do so. The management team at GTI have built a service offering and platform that prioritizes the customer the same way we do at Canada Cartage, and we are confident this is the right team for us to partner with to build and expand our North American presence.”

GTI’s fleet includes more than 250 trucks and 500 trailers.

Richard Lafreniere, president and CEO of The GTI Group said: “This is an exciting new chapter for GTI. We share many of the same values as Canada Cartage and have been on a similar path of growing our business and expanding our supply chain services. We see tremendous opportunities with this transaction for our people, our customers, and the future growth of our business.”

GTI will continue to operate under its existing branding and management structure. The deal is expected to close by Dec. 31.