Echo Global Acquires 3PL ITS Logistics From GHK

The companies said the combined entity would have 2025 pro forma revenues totaling $5.4 billion. (Echo Global Logistics)

Echo Global Logistics will buy third-party logistics provider ITS Logistics for an undisclosed sum from private equity firm GHK Capital Partners, the companies said Jan. 21. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first half of 2026.

Greenwich, Conn.-based GHK acquired ITS for an undisclosed sum in June 2021. GHK also owns freight forwarder Horizon Global.

Reno, Nev.-based ITS was founded in 1999 and has just over 1,000 employees.

ITS developed a drop trailer and trailer pool program, DropFleet, as well as offering dedicated capacity, intermodal and drayage solutions, freight security, omnichannel fulfillment and sustainability-focused transportation strategies.

ITS’ existing leadership team will remain with the company.

The companies said the combined entity would have 2025 pro forma revenue totaling $5.4 billion.

Echo ranks No. 21 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 5 among freight brokers. Echo has around 2,600 employees.

ITS ranks No. 51 on the logistics Top 100 and No. 18 among freight brokers.

Echo said the deal would expand its scale while accelerating the evolution of ITS’ product offerings through Echo’s technology platform. Echo also closed two deals in 2025 aimed at expanding its scale.

“This acquisition represents a meaningful strategic opportunity for Echo and our customers,” said CEO Doug Waggoner. “ITS has built a highly differentiated set of solutions, including drop trailer and trailer pool capabilities, backed by best-in-class execution that delivers reliability and flexibility across complex networks.

“By applying Echo’s proprietary technology, advanced analytics, and growing AI capabilities to the ITS solution set, we will strengthen our value proposition for a broader range of customers.”

ITS was attractive to Echo in a number of ways, Waggoner told TT in an exclusive interview a few days after the deal was announced.

“One, it was a nice complementary fit with our business. The industrial logic was sound. So, we’re a multimodal, non-asset transportation company. We do a lot of truckload. We do [less-than-truckload]. We do managed transportation,” he said Jan. 27. “We have a lot of SMB or small and midsized companies. We also deal with the Fortune 100. But for those larger customers, you know, we’re typically a truckload broker in their routing guide.”

“The thing that attracted us to the ITS business was the fact that they have a sort of an enterprise solution for Fortune 100 companies that’s more customized. They have 5,000 trailers, so they have a drop trailer solution with more intricate supply chain design. They’ve got a drayage [business] with containers and asset management,” he added.

“The other thing I would say is having that trailer pool of 5,000 trailers gives us a solution that we can take to our existing customers,” he noted. “So, there’s an opportunity to get wallet share from our customers. And then conversely, there’s a lot of things that we do that ITS doesn’t. We’ve got a strong Mexican operation. They happen to be pretty deep in the automotive industry. And as you know, automotive does a lot of sub-assembly work in Mexico. So right off the bat, we’ve seen where we’re going to be able to help them with their automotive customers going in and out of Mexico.”

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Waggoner said ITS’ specialties are growth areas and head count additions were likely.

“I think there will be longer term because we think that the combination of these two companies makes us the fastest growing 3PL in the industry right now. So, when you have growth, it creates opportunities for employees, promotions, new hires. So yeah, I think the answer to your question is we would definitely expect to add head count over the coming years,” he told TT.

The catalyst for this will be a freight market rebound in 2026, the executive said.

“We’ve had three years of so-called freight recession, particularly in the truckload market. We saw conditions improve in December, and that’s continued in January. And normally, the second half of December and January and February are the worst months of the year,” he said, adding: “So, the fact that we’re seeing tight capacity and prices increasing right now, I think bodes well for the rest of 2026, because when we get into the latter half of March and into the springtime, that’s when we would typically see a seasonal volume surge. So, if it’s tight in January, I think it’s going to get tighter later in the year, and that could be the turn of the market.”

Echo’s top executive said the ongoing recession was the longest he could remember.

Waggoner started out in the industry at Consolidated Freightways and since then has worked at various carriers that would become part of Yellow Corp. and Daylight Transport. He joined Echo in 2006.

“We’ve weathered the storm pretty well. I think we probably got some of the better numbers in the industry. Now, part of that’s because we’re not just a pure truckload broker. We’re diversified into multiple modes. We do warehousing, we do retail consolidation, we’ve got our Mexico business. So, we’re just tickled to death that we could be on the precipice of the market turning and we’re well positioned to take advantage of that,” said the executive.

In August, Echo purchased FreightSaver, extending its managed transportation operations and adding five U.S. locations to its network.

Echo already expanded its operations in 2025 through acquisitions and organically.

FreightSaver provides full truckload, LTL, expedited, specialized freight and managed transportation services. It was founded in 2014 by Ryan Renne and Buster Schwab.

The deal saw the integration of FreightSaver’s operations in Huntington Beach, Calif.; Park City, Utah; Rochester, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; and Temecula, Calif.

Integration of the 50 staff at FreightSaver is going well, said Waggoner. “We haven’t missed a beat and they’re actually growing and we’re real happy with that deal,” he said.

In April, Echo opened an office in Mexico City ahead of an expected doubling of its cross-border freight business in 2025 compared with 2024.

The office initially employed 11 staff but was expanded shortly thereafter. Echo initiated cross-border logistics services in 2016.