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Celadon snaps up two more trucking companies

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Celadon Group Inc.'s litany of acquisitions rolls on, with two more deals announced Friday that will expand its footprint and add temperature-controlled service to its specialties.

The Indianapolis-based company's Celadon Trucking Services subsidiary has agreed to acquire Warren-based Rock Leasing Inc. in northeast Indiana and Wadley, Ala.-based Kelly Logistics Inc.

Terms of the purchases were not disclosed.

Rock Leasing is a leading provider of temperature-controlled shipments in the Midwest. Celadon plan to maintain Rock’s Indiana leasing facility — a 20-acre site in Huntington County that includes 150,000 square feet of warehouse space.

Kelly Logistics offers dedicated customer spotting and shuttle services in the Southeast.

“Based on previous acquisitions, we believe we can actually enhance that service through upgraded equipment, advanced technology, additional assets available for dispatch, and an industry leading safety record,” Celadon CEO Paul Will said in a prepared statement.

Celadon has made more than a dozen acquisitions in as many years—typically small, privately held carriers. Many have been under pressure during the economic slowdown. Often, their value is found in their equipment and assets.

In 2011 alone, Celadon bought the dry van division assets of Dallas-based FFE Transportation and acquired Pennsylvania-based Martini Transportation.

That year, Celadon also bought 6.3 percent of Arkansas-based USA Truck. Celadon expressed interest in a deeper “association,” but USA management slammed the door.

Celadon is one of the nation’s largest truckload carriers, with customers including Chrysler, General Electric, Phillip Morris and Walmart.  In its most recent fiscal year, Celadon earned $15.2 million on revenue of $568.3 million.

Earlier this week, parent Celadon Group Inc. said it plans to build a $5.25 million driver-training center and add 182 workers to its 633-employee local work force by 2016, according to documents filed with the city.
 

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  1. Doug Henning!

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  3. Magician and illusionist!

  4. The basic idea of nice apartments with parking and retail is a good one, but this design seems overwhelmingly big/tall for Broad Ripple. The size could be disguised a bit with lots of big trees/landscaping, but the complex is too massive to blend in easily. That section of canal between College and Westfield will also need to be upgraded on both sides. Nice apartments facing onto a nice promenade with shade trees/plantings could bring together the canal towpath/Monon recreation, the outdoor seating at existing restaurants, and this project into something that upgrades the whole area. A plan for the whole stretch makes more sense than facing nice new housing onto what looks like a ditch. Is there a plan? Does the public have input? Who pays? The apartment idea seems to be reasonable, but Whole Foods is not a good idea for appropriate retail. Besides the store being physically too big, there are already Fresh Market at 54xCollege and Whole Foods in Nora for fancy groceries. Good Earth and Kroger are within walking distance of the Shell site. There are at least 7 grocery stores within a safe bike ride. Whole Foods would add nothing but traffic congestion. This design is on the right track, but there needs to be more work done to ensure that it blends in with and enhances the existing community. A project that large will set a tone for that whole part of town. It could be a real asset, but only if done right.

  5. I did not move to Zionsville to live in Carmel. This and the subsequent developments to follow will ensure a vanilla uniformity of strip malls and apartment buildings as we seek to bring our town down to the least common denominator. We were warned before recent elections that pro-development council members would make sure their friends (landowners and developers) would be able to make their millions off of the exploitation of Zionsville. Why in God's name would we sell out the best preserved small town in the State of Indiana?

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