Trimac Acquires California Freight and Names a Trimac Executive President

What happened

Trimac Transportation, the Calgary-based bulk carrier, acquired California Freight, a food-grade bulk logistics company headquartered in Ripon, California, in a deal announced August 4, 2026. California Freight will keep operating under its own name within the Trimac Family of Companies, and Trimac executive Jesse Hanson joins it as president. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The seller

David Sanders founded California Freight in 1989 as a regional brokerage. The company added a transportation division in 2012, and its tractors and tankers now haul raw milk to processing plants in California's dairy supply chain, along with loads for the wine, food and beverage, and agricultural sectors. It also offers rail and port drayage.

It operates eight trucking terminals, a warehousing terminal and a brokerage facility across California and Nevada, and more than 400,000 square feet of food-grade warehousing in the San Joaquin Valley and Stanislaus County. Its brokerage arm has customer relationships running more than 20 years.

Sanders and Jim Aartman, both vice presidents, were quoted in the announcement. "Joining Trimac means our team and customers will be provided with even greater resources to serve those who have trusted us for decades," Sanders said. The announcement did not say what roles either will hold after the deal.

The buyer

Trimac was founded in 1945 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and is based in Calgary, Alberta. It hauls chemical, energy, mining, food-grade and specialized loads across Canada and the United States, with more than 4,500 team members and independent contractors working from more than 140 operating branches.

Matt Faure, Trimac's president and CEO, said California Freight's "capabilities in food-grade transportation, warehousing and brokerage align directly with Trimac's long-term growth strategy."

How Trimac has handled its California carriers

California Freight is not Trimac's first California trucking company. In 2021 Trimac acquired Double Eagle Transportation, a Hesperia cement and dry bulk hauler founded in 1992, and Jerry Butcher III and Benjamin Butcher continued running the operation. In a deal that closed in 2024 and was announced in March 2025, Trimac added Valley Bulk, a Victorville dry bulk carrier that Jim Golson and his son Jeff founded in 1995. Valley Bulk now runs under the Double Eagle brand, which Trimac says makes the combination "one of the largest dry bulk carriers in California," and Ryan Golson, the family's third-generation trucking leader, continued with Trimac. OffDeal's guide to selling a logistics company covers how buyers look at businesses like these.

What this means for bulk logistics owners

In Trimac's earlier California deals, family members stayed with the business, and Valley Bulk gave up its own name to run under Double Eagle's. California Freight is the reverse: the name stays, and a Trimac executive takes the president's chair. For an owner of a tank carrier that also runs warehousing and brokerage, that shows the same buyer settling the brand and the leadership seat separately from deal to deal, so keeping one does not decide the other. Faure's statement named all three of California Freight's lines, and the deal took in the integrated operation rather than the fleet alone.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with bulk logistics businesses in California.

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Source: Trimac - https://www.trimac.com/news-releases/trimac-acquires-california-freight-expanding-bulk-food-grade-logistics-capabilities-in-californias-central-valley/