NFI Strengthens Non-Asset Logistics with CAI Acquisition

NFI has completed the acquisition of CAI Logistics, the non-asset logistics division of CAI International, enhancing its brokerage, intermodal, and global freight forwarding capabilities.

With the acquisition, NFI’s non-asset logistics business units will generate in excess of $500 million in annual revenue, making up 20% of NFI’s total revenue of approximately $2.5 billion. The company said the move also advances its expertise in numerous verticals, including the industrial, manufacturing, food, beverage, and retail industries. 

Facilitating more than 300,000 shipments annually, NFI provides thousands of customers with a wide breadth of multi-modal brokerage services. The addition of CAI Logistics further bolsters NFI’s specialized capabilities including flatbed, over-dimensional, less-than-truckload, expedited, and temperature-controlled transportation.

NFI is an asset and non-asset intermodal provider with capabilities across North America. It is an early adopter in the temperature-controlled intermodal space with a fleet of refrigerated intermodal containers. Integrating CAI Logistics’ rail solutions will extend NFI’s access to more than 100,000 pieces of railroad equipment and significantly deepen NFI’s intermodal expertise.

“With CAI Logistics’ service offerings, NFI will be able to amplify the scalability of its non-asset logistics platform,” said Sid Brown, CEO, NFI, in a press release. “As we have showcased with our long history of acquisitions, our ability to combine strong operations is unmatched, resulting in a more robust customer experience and integrated solutions that are seamless for shippers and their end consumers.”

In a video, David Broering, president of NFI’s non-asset business, explained that “one of the things we’re excited about with respect to this acquisition is the size of the business. They offer three services that we are working to build out in the non-asset business. And the freight brokerage, the intermodal and the global freight forwarding are three of the four divisions or business units that make up the non-asset division, and realizing their depth of experience, specifically in the intermodal space, got us really excited for the opportunity to add a lot of street credit to what we do.”

The CAI acquisition, he said, also helps reinforce the network geography NFI has been working on, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where NFI will be adding a second location in both Portland and Seattle. In addition, the company will be adding another office in the Dallas market and “putting a new dot on the map” in Jacksonville, Florida.

CAI Logistics is NFI’s 20th acquisition since 2000. Late last year, it acquired G&P Trucking Company, a logistics provider specializing in asset-based transportation, port drayage, and non-asset brokerage solutions, to expand NFI’s coverage of the Southeast. Early last year, NFI acquired SCR, an intermodal-focused brokerage company, in a move to enhance its suite of end-to-end supply chain solutions.