SMC3, best known for its less-than-truckload pricing technology and supply-chain conferences, extended reach into the truckload market by acquiring Transportation Costing Group.

The deal gives SMC3 activity-based cost modeling software and profitability management tools for both LTL and truckload carriers that complement SMC3’s software line, which includes CzarLite pricing software and several related programs used by carriers, brokers and shippers.

“There are numerous synergies between SMC3 and TCG,” Jack Middleton, SMC3 CEO, said in a statement. “Adding the industry-leading carrier costing software to our current portfolio of pricing and transit-time products will allow SMC3 to continue its path of sustainable growth.”

The acquisition of TCG expands SMC3's LTL portfolio and takes the association further into the broader multimodal transportation market. The move reflects the evolution of SMC3’s customer base, both carriers and shippers. Customers that once were primarily domestic and LTL in their focus now are more international and multimodal.

SMC3 has transformed itself repeatedly. The company was founded in the 1930s as the Southern Motor Carriers Rate Conference, one of several regional bureaus that set pricing for trucking companies under Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. Following deregulation in 1980, SMC3 became a provider of transportation data and software tools and logistics education, sponsoring conferences and workshops.

In transportation, profitability management is a growing business. TCG’s sales have increased steadily since the recession, and the company said it expects to set a revenue record in 2015. Atlanta-based SMC3 and Maryland-based TCG have been partners for several years.

“With SMC3’s pervasive reach in the transportation industry, it is the perfect organization to take our software to new heights,” Ken Manning, co-founder, chairman and CEO of TCG, said.

Contact William B. Cassidy at bill.cassidy@ihs.com and follow him on Twitter: @wbcassidy_joc