Asset-Based 3PL Drayage & Warehouse Provider, 1989-Founded Western US

$18.2M

Revenue

$3.6M

SDE

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is an asset-based third-party logistics operator founded in 1989 and headquartered in the Western US. Its bread and butter is drayage, moving containers from local ports to their next stop, which accounts for roughly 68.9% of revenue across 2023 to 2025. Around that core it layers full-truckload and less-than-truckload freight, flatbed, freight brokerage, and a meaningful warehousing arm covering storage, heavy lifting, order fulfillment, and pick-and-pack across four leased warehouses totaling over 240,000 sq. ft. plus 246,114 sq. ft. of truck yard space.

The customer base is B2B: logistics and supply chain providers plus distributors of consumer and commercial goods spanning medical supplies, automobiles, and apparel. The company competes on service reliability rather than price, citing a 98.5% on-time container delivery rate and high client retention built on consistent communication and customizable solutions. It also handles specialized freight including oversized, overweight, temperature-controlled, and hazardous containers, which carry better margins and are harder for commodity carriers to serve.

At $18.2M revenue and $3.6M adjusted EBITDA, the business runs a 17.5% EBITDA margin and a reported 92.2% gross margin, with the gross margin figure likely reflecting an accounting treatment where driver and fuel costs sit below the gross line. Two equal shareholders want a full exit but will stay on for a transition. The listing is being handled by Benchmark International, a lower middle market intermediary, which signals this is a professionally packaged process rather than a retail Main Street deal.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is real at this scale: $3.6M of adjusted EBITDA on $18.2M of revenue is a 17.5% margin, and a Benchmark-run process means audited or reviewed financials are more likely than a napkin P&L. The asset-based model with 98.5% on-time performance and high retention suggests the earnings are durable and not dependent on a single rainmaker owner.
Drayage is a structurally sticky moat. Port drayage requires chassis, bonded carrier status, port access credentials, and deep relationships with terminal operators and customs brokers, all of which take years to build and protect against easy new entrants. The 1989 founding date and long-standing client relationships compound that advantage.
Ocean container volume through US ports is a long-term growth tailwind, and drayage is the non-negotiable first leg of nearly every import. As long as goods move through ports, someone has to pull the box, which makes this demand essential rather than discretionary even in a soft freight cycle.
There is a clear operator lever in geographic and client diversification. The business is concentrated in the Southwestern US and heavily weighted to consumer goods importers, so a buyer who extends to the East or Gulf Coast or adds industrial verticals like metals and machinery can grow EBITDA without reinventing the model.

How to improve it

Install a real sales and marketing function in the first 90 days. The listing explicitly flags the absence of a marketing strategy, so building an outbound BDR motion plus presence at industry associations is low-hanging fruit for a business that has grown on reputation and referral alone.
Diversify the client base beyond consumer goods importers. The current book skews to medical supplies, automobiles, and apparel, so targeting importers of metals, petroleum, and machinery would reduce cyclical concentration and smooth revenue across freight cycles.
Pursue geographic expansion to the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. A measured expansion, potentially via a tuck-in acquisition of a smaller drayage operator at a target port, adds volume and defends national accounts that want multi-port coverage.
Push the higher-margin specialized freight. Oversized, overweight, temperature-controlled, and hazardous containers command premium rates and fewer competitors, so deliberately steering the fleet mix toward these loads lifts blended margin above the current 17.5%.
Scrutinize and optimize the warehouse utilization. With over 240,000 sq. ft. of warehouse plus 246,114 sq. ft. of truck yard across four leased sites, a buyer should measure revenue per square foot and either monetize underused space with 3PL fulfillment contracts or renegotiate leases.
Build a formal pricing and fuel surcharge discipline. Asset-based carriers live and die on cost pass-through, so tightening fuel surcharge mechanics and annual rate reviews protects the margin against diesel and labor inflation.

Diligence notes

Interrogate the 92.2% gross margin claim. A trucking and drayage operation does not carry a true 92% gross margin, so confirm whether driver wages, fuel, chassis, and equipment costs are classified below the gross line, and rebuild a normalized P&L to understand real contribution margins.
Map customer concentration carefully. Drayage books often hinge on a handful of large importers or freight forwarders, so pull revenue by top ten clients across 2023 to 2025 and confirm no single account threatens the EBITDA if it walks post-close.
Verify the asset base and its condition. The business is asset-based, so confirm the fleet of tractors, trailers, chassis, and yard equipment is owned free and clear versus leased or financed, and get a capex schedule and fleet age to project replacement costs.
Review the four facility leases in detail. All warehouses and yard space are leased from unrelated third parties, so examine remaining terms, renewal options, escalation clauses, and whether any lease is at risk, since losing a port-adjacent yard would be operationally crippling.
Assess owner dependency across the two shareholders. With both equal owners exiting, identify which relationships, pricing authority, and port credentials rest with them personally and confirm there is a second layer of management capable of running operations after the transition period ends.
Confirm the freight cycle context of the financials. The 2023 to 2025 window spans a soft freight market, so understand whether these results reflect a trough or a peak and stress-test volumes and rates against a normalized ocean import environment.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →