Global transport company Gebrüder Weiss acquires SLC’s Cargo-Link

Gebrüder Weiss, a worldwide transport and logistics company, has announced the acquisition of Salt Lake City-based Cargo-Link, a family-owned, non-asset-based freight forwarding company. Cargo-Link specializes in less-than-container load (LCL) shipping and imports from Asia to Midwest-based customers in the U.S. The acquisition is a component of the Gebrüder Weiss plans for continued growth in North America, including further development of LCL services in its Air & Sea division, the company said.

Gebrüder Weiss is a family-owned company that employs more than 8,400 people worldwide and has 180 company-owned locations. The business presence in North America includes headquarters in Chicago and offices in Atlanta; Boston; Dallas, El Paso, Houston and Laredo, Texas; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; and San Francisco, as well as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver in Canada.

With Cargo-Link, Gebrüder Weiss will offer specialized weekly LCL service from North and South China ports directly into Salt Lake City. It will also leverage Cargo-Link’s strategic location and its leadership team’s expertise to open new LCL routes to Asia and Europe. The acquisition provides a new regional market entrance, the company said. Gebrüder Weiss will retain Cargo-Link’s management team and integrate its employees into the newly merged organization.

“We are thrilled to bring Cargo-Link under the Gebrüder Weiss umbrella,” said Mark McCullough, CEO of Gebrüder Weiss North America. “There are tremendous synergies between the two companies and we mutually benefit from the agreement. We look forward to partnering with the Cargo-Link leadership team to enhance our customers’ LCL and Intermountain West-based opportunities.”

Cargo-Link was founded in 1976 in Salt Lake City and grew to become a recognized freight forwarder and customs house brokerage in a secondary market. Operationally, the majority of the business is comprised of sea freight imports, with air freight, domestic freight forwarding and export business making up the remainder. CEO and Owner Scott Ogden has managed Cargo-Link since its inception and has developed an extensive network of client relationships and overseas partners.

“This acquisition significantly upgrades our service potential and broadens customer access, seamlessly blending Cargo-Link’s expertise with the expansive capabilities of Gebrüder Weiss,” said Scott Ogden, CEO of Cargo-Link. “The two companies are a cultural fit as well as a business fit. Cargo-Link is a family-owned, family-focused company with a philanthropic culture, and we sought those same values in a corporate partner.”