- Trimac Transportation has acquired California Freight, adding eight trucking terminals and a large food-grade tractor-and-tanker operation serving California and Nevada.
- The deal gives Trimac an established Central Valley platform for raw milk, wine, food and beverage, agricultural logistics, warehousing and brokerage.
- California Freight will retain its name, but the companies have not disclosed the purchase price, exact equipment totals or a detailed integration timetable.
The Trimac California Freight acquisition gives a large North American bulk carrier an immediate operating platform inside California’s dairy and agricultural supply chain. Trimac announced the completed transaction Aug. 4, adding a Ripon, Calif.-based food-grade logistics company with eight trucking terminals across California and Nevada.
A California Freight tractor and stainless-steel tanker representing the company’s specialized dairy and food-grade transportation operation. (Photo: California Freight)
For tank fleets and shippers, the important part is not simply the change in ownership. California Freight already moves raw milk to processing plants and serves wine, food and beverage, and agricultural customers with a diversified tractor-and-tanker fleet. The acquisition places that specialized regional network inside Trimac’s much larger North American bulk-transport organization.
The companies did not disclose the transaction price. They also have not published a definitive breakdown of tractors and tank trailers included in the sale, new capacity targets, or expected changes to customer pricing and service areas.
California Freight Brings a Ready-Made Dairy Tanker Network
According to Trimac’s acquisition announcement, California Freight operates eight trucking terminals, a warehousing terminal and a brokerage facility across California and Nevada. Its warehousing network includes more than 400,000 square feet of food-grade storage in the San Joaquin Valley and Stanislaus County.
California Freight began as a regional brokerage in 1989 and added its transportation division in 2012. The company says it grew from 10 tanker trailers into a large fleet of tractors and food-grade tankers serving major dairy and food companies from terminals in the two states. Its transportation operation also covers equipment and agricultural hauling beyond its tanker business.
That mix gives Trimac more than vehicles. It adds regional dispatch knowledge, established relationships with farms and processors, food-grade storage, and a brokerage operation whose customer relationships, according to Trimac, extend more than 20 years.
Trimac already serves food-grade customers elsewhere in North America, so the purchase is not the carrier’s first entry into the category. It is, however, a substantial expansion into California’s liquid food-grade market, where raw-milk collection and processor deliveries require specialized equipment and closely coordinated service.
The size of that market is substantial. USDA’s 2025 California agriculture overview reports 40.95 billion pounds of milk production valued at approximately $8.4 billion, illustrating the scale of the dairy market behind the region’s farm-to-processor hauling network.
The acquisition combines eight trucking terminals with food-grade tanker service, brokerage and more than 400,000 square feet of food-grade storage. (Graphic: Tank Transport; sources: Trimac and California Freight)
Deal Extends a Platform California Freight Built in 2024
California Freight entered the transaction with its own recent acquisition history. In September 2024, it purchased Superior Truck Lines of Newman, Calif., a longtime raw-milk carrier serving farms and processing plants in the Central Valley. Tank Transport reported at the time that the Superior Truck Lines acquisition was intended to preserve service continuity while expanding California Freight’s position in dairy transportation.
The new deal effectively moves that enlarged regional platform under Trimac. It also gives California Freight access to a carrier that says it has more than 4,500 team members and independent contractors across more than 140 operating branches in Canada and the United States.
The transaction fits Trimac’s broader use of acquisitions to add specialized operating capabilities while retaining established businesses. Tank Transport previously covered Trimac’s purchase of Feldspar Trucking, a dry-bulk mineral carrier, and its acquisition of Doyle Sims & Sons, which added nonhazardous liquid and dry-bulk equipment in the South and Midwest.
California Freight is different because of its concentrated exposure to dairy, wine, and other food-grade commodities in the western United States. That makes the acquisition a geographic expansion and a specialized liquid-bulk investment at the same time.
California Freight Name and Leadership Will Remain
California Freight’s established tractor-and-tanker fleet is joining Trimac as part of the bulk carrier’s expansion into California’s dairy and food-grade logistics market. (Photo: California Freight)
Trimac said California Freight will continue operating under its existing name as part of the Trimac Family of Companies. Trimac executive Jesse Hanson will become president of California Freight and work with the existing leadership team.
That structure signals continuity, but it does not answer every operational question. The announcement does not specify whether dispatch systems, maintenance programs, purchasing, insurance, tank-cleaning relationships or customer contracts will be combined. It also does not identify terminal consolidations, fleet-renewal plans or changes in driver staffing.
Those details will determine how quickly the larger ownership platform becomes visible to customers and competitors. For now, the confirmed change is ownership and leadership—not a publicly announced reduction in service, closure of facilities or immediate rebranding of California Freight equipment.
Industry reports have offered differing estimates of California Freight’s equipment count. FMCSA’s SAFER snapshot lists Sandair Inc., doing business as California Freight Sales, with 452 power units and 501 drivers based on a March 18, 2026 MCS-150 filing. That federal record confirms a large operating platform, but “power units” are not tank trailers and the filing does not provide a tractor-to-tanker split. The number of tank trailers transferred therefore remains undisclosed.
Trimac California Freight Acquisition: Key Developments
- Trimac completed the acquisition of California Freight and announced it Aug. 4, 2026.
- The acquired operation includes eight trucking terminals, food-grade tank transportation, brokerage and more than 400,000 square feet of food-grade warehousing.
- California Freight will keep its established name, with Trimac executive Jesse Hanson serving as president alongside the existing leadership team.
- The price, exact equipment totals, integration schedule, and customer-rate effects remain undisclosed.
