b'8American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comand pop operations, a strongtruckingM&Aisthrough interest in the sector by pri- acquisitionbringingmore vateequityfirms,thestagedriversonboard.Likethe was all but set for a reshuf- industryitself,manydriv-fling of the deck.ersmovenotonlybetween Ayearlater,withthecompanies,butalsoindus-freightslumpandslow- tries. For instance, there is a down in demand, many truck- well-documentedconnection ingcompanieswerecontentbetweentruckingandthe totakestockoftheirposi- constructionindustry.When tions, particularly in respect totheconstructionindustryis new acquisitions, and addresshiringwhichoftencoin-internal operations. This isntcideswithimprovedeco-to say nothing happened butnomicactivitydrivers ratherincomparisontothearehardertokeepinseats. previousyears,itwasslow.Thisincidenceisadouble But by late in the third quar- whammy of sorts, as it corre-ter and into the fourth, M&Asponds with greater demand activitystartedpickingupfor trucks and drivers as the and the liquidation of Yellowconstructionsectorisabig Freight opened up the cofferssource of freight. forthebetterheeledcompa-nies looking to expand quickly2024: t her oada headat a bargain basement rate. There are few market cer-(BRIDGEcontinued fromalbeit one that only accountscustomscheckpointproce- Asaresult,thereweretainties, as the Yellow Freight page 6) for a very, very, small propor- dures enroute, documentationsome interesting merger tar- debacle attests. The economy Its imperative that we knowtionofthetradethatpassesandsecurityhaveyettobegetsin2023.Forexample,hasforthelasttwoyears the precise location of a truckthrough its waters. solved, he told AJOT. UPSboughtHappyReturnsavoidedslippingintoanoft anditsETAfrombothanHe declined to disclose theDeanDavison,headoffrom none other than PayPal.forecast recession (although it operational and security pointtruckvolumethelandbridgemaritimeadvisoryatinfra- Penske Truck Leasing addedcan be argued that a recession of view. is generating at present nor thestructuredevelopmentcon- Star Truck Rentals and Kris- has occurred) and kept infla-The land bridge is pitchedgrowthtargetsbutunderlinedsultancy Infrata, said theredWay Truck Leasing; RoadOnetionincheck.TheUSelec-as an express route, short- that Trucknet is seeing stronglongbeenadesireontheIntermodaLogisticsacquiredtions on the horizon and the ening the maritime shippingdemand from the shipping linespart of the Gulf CooperationTransport Ace Transport andpossibilityofagovernment routes by 10 days. and manufacturing shippers anCouncil(GCC)todevelopTheTransporterwhilepri- shutdowninMarchaddsa Fridman said that a boxexporters. land bridge service offeringsvate equity fund ZS Fund LPdash of instability to any eco-ships journey from the UAEFridman continued: Ourin the wider region. snagged Lily Transportation.nomic forecast. Further, there to Haifa is about two weeksfocusisondevelopingtechAndfromashipperWhatalltheseacquisi- isaquestionastowhether long, given that its itinerarysolutions, and we dont haveperspective,itisgoodandtionshadincommonisthatthe US consumer has enough usuallyentailscallsatvari- thenecessaryresourcestoindeed,preferred,tohaveatheyweremorestrategicstamina(anddeepenough ousportsenroutetounloadmarket the land bridge as thenumber of transport options.innaturethanopportunistic.pockets) to continue spending or load cargo before reachingvolume of business increases.Clearly the transit time (withItisacquisitioninahighlyto thwart a recession. the Israeli port. With the landIdeally, we would like to seethis particular land bridge) isspecificmanner,whichmayEarlyreturnsfromthe bridge, a container unloadedtheshippinglinestakethishighly competitive, althoughcharacterizethecurrentstateholiday period were positive. atJebelAliandtransferredonasanexpresslinewhichthis cant be matched by theof M&A in the logistics sectorCensus and Statistics reported to a truck can be in Haifa informspartoftheirrangeofcapacityitcouldoffer,heat largeexcepting of course,the 2023 holiday season grew only four days. services to shippers. told AJOT. theGermangovernments3.8%over2022toarecord Ultimately,anyaddi- decision to sell logistics goli- $964.4billion.Accordingto b ypasss aves10 d ays c apacityi ssues tionalcostwillneedtobeath DB Schenker (see StuarttheNationalRetailFedera-t ransitt ime Hewentontorevealpaid for, but a quick, safe andTodds article DB Schenker:tions (NRF) Chief Economist We can save at least 10thatamajorchallengeinconfirmedtransitwillcer- Biggest takeover of a logisticsJackKleinhenz,Consumer days on every delivery fromthe development of the landtainlyappeal,especiallyforgroup so far this century atspendingwasremarkably east to west and vice versa,bridgeisinsufficientpro- time-sensitive goods. AJOTs www.ajot.com) resilient throughout 2023 and he said, adding that using thecessing capacity for trucks atHeadded:ThereisanTaketheexampleoffinished the year with a solid surface transport route workstheSheikhHusseinBridge,obvious degree of credibilityRoadOne. Miami-based Trans- pacefortheholidayseason. outat15-20%moreexpen- thebordercrossingbetweenwith DP World involved andport Aceadds100,410sqftAlthoughinflationhasbeen sive than the traditional ship- Jordan and Israel, which canit fits the companys aims ofofwarehouseinMiamiandthe biggest concern for house-only passage. But when youonly handle up to 350 HGVsincreasing its service offeringexpandsRoadOnesFloridaholds, the price of goods eased need to get goods to marketper day. This will need to bethroughout the supply chain. servicenetwork.Similarly,notably and was helped by a quickly theres an additionalresolved as the land bridgesTheTransporteracquisitionhealthylabormarket,under-price to pay. volume of business grows soaddsaregionalintermodalscoringasuccessfulholiday Nevertheless,Fridmanthat trucks dont get held up(DELETIONcontinuedserviceproviderwithfacili- season for retailers.noted that Trucknets empha- in Jordan. from page 6) tiesinHouston,DallasandOfcourse,thatdoesnt sisonreducingthenumberFridmanaddedthathisan unusually large number ofLaredo, Texas. necessarilytranslateintoa of trucks returning empty todream is to see the creationtruckingmergers&acquisi- It is the same with Penskebettertruckingmarketas the UAE from Israel providesof a rail connection betweentions (M&A).It was almostadding two truck rental com- American Trucking Associa-some scope to lower shippingtheSheikhHusseinBridgeas if the industry collectivelypanies[StarTruckRentalstions (ATA) Chief Economist costs via the land bridge. andportofHaifaandevenhittheresetbuttonafterand Kris-Way Truck Leasing]Bob Costello observed in the However,itisworthlongertermbetweenJebelcomingoutoftheCOVID- to their nationwide coverageDecembernewsletter,We notingthatthecurrenthikeAli and Haifa. 19 period.PMCF investmentortheprivateequitycom- continuedtoseeachoppy in ocean freight rates due toBarry Pintow, manager atbankerwroteintheir1stpanyZSbringingLilyinto2023fortrucktonnageinto the re-routing of ships aroundthe Israeli Federation of For- quarter2023transportationthe fold to pair with Transer- November,said ATAChief Africa and the longer transitwarders and Customs Clearingand logistics brief, Mergersvice Logistics.(DELETIONcontinued on times, in light of the HouthiAgents (IFFCCA) highlightedandacquisitionswithintheAnotheraspectofanypage 14)attacks the land bridge wouldthatwhiletheideaoftheTransportationandLogistics be a cheaper option. land bridge is undoubtedly a(T&L) sector are no longer At the end of the day, thecleveroneoperatingfromreachingthelevelsobserved world is going to find a way ofDubai to Haifa, for example,duringtherecord-breaking halting the Houthi attacks andwithout changing drivers andhighs of 2021 and 2022, how-thiscouldtakeoneweekortrucksatbordercrossingsever, they are still in line with two months. But whenever thisinordertominimizetransithistorical averages.comes about, we will have cre- timeshe claimed there areAndlikemanyindustry ated an express shipping linea number of operational obsta- sectorswithinthelogistics to cater for customers who needcles to overcome. universe, trucking companies delivery to be faster, as well asForittoworkinthehadlargelybenefitedfrom onewhichfacilitatestrafficMiddleEast,youneednotthehighfreightratesinthe flows in times of crisis. We seeonlyluckbutalsocoopera- immediate post-COVID boom. the land bridge as a logisticstion from neighboring coun- With burgeoning war chests, solutionthatcomplementstries. It is my understandingahighlyfragmentedindus-transitviatheSuezCanalthatmanyissuesrelatedtotry,containingmanymom'