Quest Liner acquires ITS

On Saturday, Feb. 9, Quest Liner representatives met with the employees and contractors of Integrated Transportation Services (ITS), of Houston, to announce the upcoming acquisition of ITS by Quest Liner. The move was effective Feb. 24. In a breakfast meeting with the current owners, Tina and Gary Blalock, and their employees and contractors, Quest Liner president Greg McCoy outlined the acquisition plan and encouraged the group to continue to provide safe and dependable transportation service as the two companies come together.

The acquisition is of significant strategic importance to Quest Liner, which currently has a 12-truck operation located at the QualaWash tank cleaning facility in La Porte, TX. We have been unable to keep up with customer demand and we feel that this addition of the 54 company drivers and owner operators at ITS will allow us to further develop relationships with a growing number of strategic customers in the Gulf Coast.

From a strategic perspective, we have seen a resurgence in the specialty chemical manufacturing industry due in large part to the proliferation of frack drilling for natural gas in the United States. The long-term availability of low cost natural gas has been a game changer for chemical manufacturers, and Quest Liner is proactively positioning itself for growth in chemical transportation in the Gulf Coast. ITS operates one terminal facility, which is located within five miles of multiple Fortune 100 specialty and commodity chemical manufacturing facilities. Quest Liner will be consolidating its La Porte-based operation at the existing ITS terminal. The facility includes a 1,200-sq.-ft. modular office building, a one bay maintenance shop, and two other storage buildings, all positioned on a five acre parcel of land for parking tractor and trailer equipment.

The closing date was set for Feb. 24, at which time all of the ITS dispatch operations were transitioned to Quest Liner’s TMW software. We have engaged a transition team that is busy installing PeopleNet mobile communications hardware in all of the ITS power equipment and changing tractor and trailer markings to the Quest Liner logo.

Quest Liner is proud to welcome all of its new professional teammates from ITS and looks forward to continued growth of the Quest Liner brand in the U.S. Gulf Coast and across the growing operating network.

Many thanks to all of the team that has worked tirelessly to make this acquisition  possible.