Scan Global Logistics agrees to buy OIA Global

Scan Global’s OIA deal is a bet on US customs, not global size

Scan Global Logistics agreed on 28 October to buy OIA Global, a forwarder based in Portland, Oregon. OIA had $780m in revenue last year. The Danish company, known as SGL, has made “the largest investment in its history”, according to FreightWaves. Neither side disclosed the price. The deal needs regulatory approval, and Scan expects it to close in the first quarter of 2027.

Our view is simple. This deal is about the United States. Scan is paying for a ready-made American business with customs brokers, import customers and offices in the right places. Becoming bigger worldwide is a side effect.

What was announced

According to FreightWaves, OIA was founded in 1988. It has more than 1,200 employees and over 60 offices in more than 30 countries. Its services cover freight forwarding, customs brokerage, contract logistics (warehousing and related work done under longer contracts) and project logistics, which means moving large or unusual cargo for things like plants and infrastructure.

Scan is the bigger company. FreightWaves reports that it had about $2.82bn in revenue last year, more than 5,100 employees and over 200 offices. Adding the two companies’ reported revenue gives roughly $3.6bn. That is our arithmetic, not a figure either company has published.

Scan says the deal would put it among the world’s top 20 forwarders. That claim needs some context. FreightWaves notes that “Armstrong & Associates ranks Scan as the 19th largest freight forwarder in the world”. Scan is already in the top 20 on that list. The deal makes its position there more secure. It does not move Scan into a new tier.

Why we think it is a US deal

The clearest evidence is in Transport Topics’ 2026 Top 100 Logistics rankings.

Scan’s Americas business is ranked 68th, with $850m in gross revenue. Its net revenue, which is roughly what is left after paying carriers, is estimated at $190m. OIA is ranked 73rd, with $779m in gross revenue and $202m in net revenue.

So by these figures, OIA’s net revenue is larger than Scan’s own American operation. The comparison isn’t perfect. OIA’s figure may include its offices outside the US, and the ranking pages use different years: 2024 for OIA and 2025 for Scan’s Americas unit. Still, the point holds: this deal roughly doubles Scan’s weight in the Americas.

Net revenue matters more than gross revenue in forwarding. Gross revenue goes up and down with freight rates. Net revenue shows how much margin a forwarder keeps. By that measure, OIA is a large prize relative to Scan’s American business.

OIA’s recent purchases point the same way. In April 2026 it bought Cargo Services Inc, an Indianapolis firm founded in 1992 that does forwarding and customs clearance. The report said the deal “does not disclose a purchase price”. In April 2025, OIA bought JF Moran. Heavy Lift & Project Forwarding described JF Moran as a “Customs brokerage and freight forwarding firm” with “expertise in Customs compliance, foreign trade zones (FTZ), and global logistics”. A foreign trade zone is a secure area where imported goods can be stored or processed before US duties apply.

In a year of tariff changes, those are valuable skills. Customs brokerage work does not depend on freight rates. It also keeps importers loyal, because changing brokers in the middle of a tariff dispute is painful.

Two buyers, one deal

Neither company is new to acquisitions.

OIA has been building through purchases for years. The Loadstar reported its move into Australia through the purchase of two forwarders, Airmark Ocean & Air Logistics and BTi Logistics. That deal followed OIA’s purchase of Irish forwarder Sandford Freight. The Loadstar also reported, citing the Capital IQ database, that private equity firm LDI Ltd took a majority stake in OIA in 2010. If LDI still holds that stake after more than 15 years, a sale to a trade buyer like Scan would be a typical exit.

Scan has also been buying. In its 2025 results, published in February, Scan reported revenue of EUR 2,526m. Its EBITDA before special items, a common measure of operating profit, was EUR 219m, up from EUR 195m. Ocean volume rose 25% and air freight grew 6%. That year Scan bought Canada’s ITN Logistic Group and opened its own offices in India.

That growth has come at a cost. FreightWaves reports that “Scan lost $101.5 million”. Management blamed debt refinancing and the cost of financing the ITN purchase. Scan’s CEO, Allan Melgaard, said in February: “When you invest in growth and build a global company, financial costs naturally come with it.” He also called 2025 “a year of fighting for results.”

That tells us something about the OIA deal. Scan is profitable at the operating level but carries financing costs. A deal this large, its biggest ever, will probably need more debt. That puts pressure on Scan to cut overlapping costs quickly and to show that OIA’s margins hold up. Overlapping costs means things like duplicate offices, systems and agent fees.

The wider pattern

This is not a one-off. FreightWaves says: “Acquisitions, mergers and investments in the logistics industry have accelerated this year”, especially in the US, as the freight cycle improves. OIA itself was a buyer in April and is a target in October.

Mid-sized forwarders face a familiar squeeze. They are too big to win on personal service alone. They are also too small to get the carrier contracts and technology budgets of the largest players. Buying a firm the size of OIA is how a company like Scan tries to escape that squeeze. Selling to a larger group is how a company like OIA escapes it from the other side.

What it means for forwarders and shippers

OIA’s customers should expect little change on day one. Day-to-day contacts usually stay put through closing and for some time after. The bigger changes come later and happen at the overseas end. In many markets, Scan has its own offices where OIA uses agents. After closing, the usual move is to bring that freight in-house.

So OIA’s overseas agents carry the most risk. Those are the independent forwarders that handle its cargo abroad. If you are one of them, now is the time to talk to your OIA contacts and look at how much of your volume depends on them.

Shippers using both companies should check their contracts for change-of-control clauses. These terms let either side renegotiate when a company changes owners. Shippers should also find out which customs broker will hold their US filings after integration. Moving a customs bond or broker relationship takes time, and tariff deadlines will not wait.

For other US customs brokers and mid-sized forwarders, the message is that buyers are active and paying for customs skills. Expect more approaches, especially to firms with a strong customs practice in an inland US market like Indianapolis.

For competing forwarders, the integration period is an opening. OIA customers who don’t want to be moved into a larger European-owned network will be open to offers in the first half of 2027.

What could go wrong

Forwarding mergers often look simple on paper and turn out harder in practice. Three risks stand out to us.

The first is people. A forwarder’s value sits mostly with its sales staff and customs specialists. OIA has more than 1,200 employees, and many of its offices came from earlier acquisitions with their own ways of working. If key sales staff leave during integration, their customers often leave with them. Rivals know this and will try to hire them.

The second is systems. OIA has added firms in the US, Ireland and Australia in recent years. Scan has done the same in Canada and India. Each one brings its own booking, customs filing and accounting tools. Moving US customs filings onto a new system in the middle of a tariff-heavy year is risky. A filing error costs the importer money and costs the broker trust.

The third is money. FreightWaves reports that Scan lost $101.5m last year while its operating profit grew. A bigger deal brings bigger interest costs. If freight rates weaken in 2027, Scan will need savings from the merger sooner, and customers usually feel those cuts first in service.

None of these risks will stop the deal. They will decide whether it pays off.

Our prediction

We expect the deal to close by 31 March 2027, in line with Scan’s Q1 2027 guidance. We see no obvious competition problem in combining two firms of this size in a fragmented market.

Within six months of closing, we expect Scan to bring OIA’s freight in-house in at least some overseas markets where it already has its own offices. That will cost some of OIA’s agent partners business. We also expect at least one more US customs brokerage or mid-sized forwarder to change hands to a European or Asian buyer by the end of the second quarter of 2027.

Sources

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• FreightWaves — Scan Global Logistics to acquire Oregon-based OIA Global, 28 Oct 2026 \
• Scan Global Logistics — Scan Global Logistics delivers growth in a challenging 2025, 27 Feb 2026 \
• Transport Topics — OIA Global, 2026 Top 100 Logistics \
• Transport Topics — Scan Global Logistics (Americas), 2026 Top 100 Logistics \
• Pulse — OIA Global acquires Cargo Services, 8 Apr 2026 \
• Heavy Lift & Project Forwarding — OIA Global acquires JF Moran, 7 Apr 2025 \
• The Loadstar — OIA Global moves into Australian market with Airmark and BTi buys