ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Flatbed and dry van truckload carrier Smithway Motor Xpress Corp. () said it is buying assets of flatbed carrierSkipper Transportation for less than $3 million.

Fort Dodge, Iowa-based Smithway said it would take over leases of the 39 tractors that Birmingham, Ala.-based Skipper owns, and buy 166 of its flatbed trailers and other miscellaneous assets like safety equipment.

Skipper generated about $15 million in revenue last year. Smithway disclosed no further financial details.

Skipper also runs 85 tractors supplied by owner-operators, and Smithway said it expects to hire many of them, as well as many of its company drivers.

Smithway Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer William G. Smith said he expects that Skippers operation to solidify Smithway's presence in the southeastern United States.

He added, “There is very little customer overlap between Smithway and Skipper Transportation, which should allow Smithway to cross-market greater capacity to Skipper's customers and seek to expand service in lanes that are complementary to our existing traffic flow."

The deal should close in March.

Smithway is ranked No. 71 in the Transport Topics 100 list of U.S. trucking companies, based on 1999 data.

( for the full press release.)

6983