PS Logistics buys Roane assets, adding more than 170 drivers

Loudon County Trucking, a unit of Birmingham, Alabama-based PS Logistics, bought Roane Transportation's assets for an undisclosed sum; the carrier has more than 170 drivers. The deal adds a Rockwood, Tennessee-based flatbed and Conestoga operation and extends PS Logistics' footprint in East Tennessee, a fragmented segment where the company has pursued acquisitions.

Loudon County Trucking acquired assets from three named entities: Roane Transportation Services, Roane Logistics and B&W Leasing. Founded in 1996, Roane operates from Rockwood and Memphis, Tennessee, and El Paso, Texas, with company, lease-purchase and owner-operator drivers. Its freight mix includes aluminum, steel, electrical products and building materials across the southeastern and Midwestern states.

What does the Roane acquisition change?

PS Logistics describes East Tennessee as a region critical to aluminum manufacturing. Houston Vaughn, president of PS Logistics' trucking division, said: “The acquisition of Roane Transportation strengthens PS Logistics’ presence in East Tennessee, expanding our footprint in a region that is critical to the aluminum manufacturing sector and enhancing our ability to support both existing and new customers.”

For shippers, the immediate effect is wider specialized coverage rather than a disclosed price move. Roane's existing freight mix covers aluminum, steel, electrical products and building materials, and its more than 170 drivers work from three locations. PS Logistics says the deal should support existing customers and new accounts, but announced no rates, equipment additions or service-transition schedule.

For carriers and forwarders, the transaction folds Roane's flatbed and Conestoga work into a U.S.-based buyer with a long acquisition history. Carriers gain access to PS Logistics' customer base and operating scale, while forwarders gain another routing option across the Southeast and Midwest. The announcement published no rate reduction or capacity guarantee for either group.

How large is PS Logistics' acquisition platform?

Since 2016, PS Logistics has acquired 32 carriers and five non-asset logistics operations across the United States. That record places Roane within a sustained deal strategy in the fragmented flatbed market, rather than an isolated local purchase.

Transport Topics' Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America placed PS Logistics No. 26, while its flatbed-carrier sector ranking placed the company No. 3. For shippers, that scale can make one carrier group more useful across several industrial freight categories, although the announcement offered no network-wide service or pricing commitment.

The ranking changes what this regional add-on means for PS Logistics' customers. The company is extending a No. 3-ranked flatbed platform into a region its president calls critical to aluminum manufacturing, so Roane's assets enter an established network rather than a standalone operation.

Did the deal restart the acquisition cycle?

Roane restarts that acquisition cycle. Before the deal, PS Logistics acquired four carriers in 2024 and none in 2025. Its most recent 2024 purchase came in November, when the Blair Logistics unit bought Hammond, Louisiana-based Fluker Transportation, a flatbed and heavy-haul carrier operating across the southeastern United States.

Fluker primarily hauled steel, construction equipment and defense-related freight for the military. At the time of that deal, it operated 40 revenue-generating trucks and 150 open-deck trailers, giving PS Logistics a measurable heavy-haul asset base alongside Roane's driver-heavy expansion.

Roane changes the composition of that buying spree. Fluker concentrated on steel, construction equipment and military freight with 40 trucks and 150 trailers, while Roane concentrates on aluminum, steel, electrical products and building materials with more than 170 drivers in Tennessee and Texas. Together, the additions deepen PS Logistics' southeastern coverage, though the announcement did not quantify fleet capacity.

The two acquisitions provide different capacity benchmarks. Fluker came with a disclosed equipment base of 40 revenue-generating trucks and 150 open-deck trailers, while Roane brought more than 170 company, lease-purchase and owner-operator drivers without a corresponding truck-and-trailer figure. That difference leaves shippers and forwarders without a like-for-like capacity measure for the combined network.

The next test is operational rather than financial: the transaction price remains undisclosed, and PS Logistics has announced no capacity target or rates for the enlarged flatbed network. Whether Roane's driver base produces more available capacity or lower quotes in East Tennessee will depend on how quickly PS Logistics integrates the acquisition, a trajectory the company has yet to specify.