IRT forms global horse-transport group with Mersant, BBA and Manestream

IRT will combine with Mersant International, BBA Shipping & Transport and Manestream to form a new global horse-transport group.

The four businesses will retain their existing brands and continue under the leadership of their current teams and active owners. IRT said customers’ day-to-day dealings would remain unchanged while they gained access to the four operators’ combined expertise and international networks.

“Our clients across the racing and sport horse sectors increasingly require global transport solutions,” IRT Global CEO Chris Burke said “By expanding our international network, we can better support their evolving needs and facilitate horse movements to destinations worldwide.”

IRT has offices in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany and the US. Its services cover airfreight and charter arrangements, quarantine requirements, customs work and onward delivery. The company says it has more than 45 years’ experience in international horse transport.

The new structure follows Crescent Capital’s purchase of a significant interest in IRT in 2025. Burke and other members of IRT’s operating leadership remained shareholders and active owners after that investment.

Newmarket-based BBA Shipping & Transport grew out of the British Bloodstock Agency, which was founded in 1911. It arranges airfreight and operates its own horsebox fleet, shipping hundreds of horses internationally each year.

Founded in 1977, Mersant International maintains offices in New York and Kentucky. It is an International Air Transport Association agent and a licensed provider of customs brokerage and freight-forwarding services, with a specialist horse-shipping division.

Manestream was founded by show jumper Lucas Porter in 2022 and has bases in Weerselo in the Netherlands and Wellington, Florida. It coordinates documentation and transport through a single point of contact.

The combination brings together Australasian, European and North American markets as racing and breeding stock move between continents for sales, campaigns and stud duties.

IRT said the enlarged network would continue providing the service customers already receive from each individual business, with the same teams remaining responsible for horse movements.