June 6, 2006 12:00 PM, EDT

Transport Investments Buying Montana Trucking Firm

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ittsburgh-based Transport Investments said it signed a letter of intent to buy Truckers Express Inc., based in Missoula, Mont. Terms were not disclosed.

Truckers Express owns or has leases about 450 tractors and 1,000 trailers with 17 terminals throughout the United States. Its sales in fiscal 2005 were about $109 million.

According to its Web site, Truckers Express is a 100% owner-operator company.

Truckers Express and the other Transport Investments units are primarily flatbed, heavy haul and specialized carriers.

Brian Smith, Truckers Express president, will become president of Trucking Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport Investments, which will do business as Truckers Express.

Transport Investments is a holding company that owns four trucking subsidiaries: American Transport, Pittsburgh; Greentree Transportation Co., Pittsburgh; Aetna Freight Lines, Warren, Ohio; and Marathon Transport, Weirton, W. Va.

Together those companies operate about 850 tractors, 950 trailers and more than 150 terminals. Transport Investments’ revenue last year exceeded $105 million, the company said.

“The combined entity will have a fleet of over 1,300 trucks and annual gross revenues of about $250 million. The result is the creation of one of the largest privately owned trucking groups in the United States,” said Douglas McAdams, Transport Investments’ president.