Hale Intermodal Trucking Co., Baltimore, Md., which mostly transports cargo containers and machinery from Baltimore and other East Coast ports, will be taken over by Pottsville, Pa.-based Evans Delivery Co. Inc.,
an old-line transportation company that operates more than 500 tractors at terminals on the East Coast, including Maryland.
Edwin F. Hale Sr. is selling his trucking company, and the sale is expected to be completed by the end of the month, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, and it was unclear whether any of Hale's 200 employees would lose their jobs in the transfer. Albert J. Evans Jr., owner of Evans Delivery, was unavailable for comment.
Hale began Hale Transport in 1975 after leaving his job at ATCO Trailer Rentals. He hasn't played an active role in managing Hale Intermodal since joining Baltimore Bancorp as chairman in 1990. Hale Transport has been shrinking in recent years as Hale has increasingly devoted attention to property development and finance.
He is leaving the transportation business at a difficult time for the trucking industry. Rising costs, a sluggish economy and intense competition have fueled a round of consolidation in the business. In an industry in which size is seen as vital, Hale Transport was not poised to grow.
"You either get bigger or ... if you stand still, somebody is going to grow over the top of you," Hale told The Sun. "We just haven't grown, and (Evans) is growing. That's what he'd like to do, is become the dominant carrier on the East Coast."
Evans' purchase of Hale Transport will give it a bigger foothold in the Maryland market, making it among the top 10 trucking companies operating in the port, port officials and industry experts said.
Albert L. Evans Sr., who started with two trucks handling less-than-load freight in the Pottsville area, founded Evans in 1939. The company grew to encompass much of the Northeast, branching into the intermodal trucking business at the port of Philadelphia in 1973.
That side of the business has grown to include major East Coast ports. In addition to Evans Delivery, the company owns several other companies, including West Motor Freight, a regional full-truckload and flatbed carrier; All Points Transport, a full-service intermodal trucking company; and DM Transportation Management Services, a third-party logistics company.
Evans' expansion is another example of the consolidation in the industry, trucking experts said.
"The industry, especially the intermodal end of it, has a lot of turnover in it," said Walt Thompson, president and chief executive of the Maryland Motor Truck Assn., an industry trade group.