Oak Creek-based intermodal and logistics firm Aim Transfer & Storage Inc. has acquired Green Bay-based trucking company Bay Motor Transport Inc.
The transaction closed August 1 for an undisclosed price.
Jeff LeClaire, who owned Bay Motor, will stay on as vice president of Aim Green Bay and in six months will enter semi-retirement, said Chris Winkler, owner of Aim Transfer & Storage.
Aim added Bay Motor’s 40 drivers and six office employees in the transaction, and now has a total of about 150 employees, Winkler said. The Wisconsin driver pool of the two companies has been merged. Aim also added about 15 tractors and 12 trailers, as well as all of Bay Motor’s business systems and equipment.
“Our business is really quite different than most carriers,” Winkler said. “Besides being an intermodal carrier, one of the largest in Wisconsin, we’re heavily asset based.”
Aim employs about 70 percent of its drivers, with just 30 percent working as independent contractors, which Winkler said is unusual for a logistics firm.
Acquiring Bay Motor expands Aim’s footprint to the Fox Valley and offers a mid-point for drivers going from Chicago to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“I bought it because of location and because of the type of business that it was,” Winkler said. “I wanted to develop … in upper Wisconsin leading into upper Michigan.”
Winkler said he has two other acquisitions, one of which is in Wisconsin, on the docket.
“What I’m trying to do is build the Aim brand for Wisconsin,” he said. “I’m trying to develop more and more business opportunities, growth, employees, all of that in Wisconsin.”
Aim provides intermodal, LTL freight, expedited and warehousing and distribution services. Most of its shipments are containers heading from the Chicago-area rail yards to destinations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
“My philosophy the last 30 years since I’ve been in the business is people are calling, they’ve got a problem, I’ve got a solution,” Winkler said.
Winkler, 53, founded the family company in October 2003 and has set up a family succession plan.
Aim Transfer & Storage received the loan for the acquisition from Associated Bank.
