Six Canadian trucking companies named Best Fleets to Drive For

Avatar photo

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Six Canadian trucking companies have made the 2013 list of the top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and CarriersEdge. The annual survey and contest, now in its fifth year, identifies for-hire trucking companies that provide the best workplace experiences for their drivers.

This year’s Canadian winners are:
• Brian Kurtz Trucking – Breslau, Ont.
• Erb Group of Companies – New Hamburg, Ont.
• Steed Standard Transport – Stratford, Ont.
• TimeLine Logistic International – Saskatoon, Sask.
• Trimac Transportation – Calgary, Alta.
• Yanke Group of Companies – Saskatoon, Sask.

Yanke holds the distinction of being the only company to be named a Best Fleet for all five years since the program was launched. “I think that’s a real achievement, considering how much we’ve seen fleets improve their programs since we started,” said TCA president Chris Burruss. “It’s very difficult to get named a Best Fleet to begin with, let alone remain on the list for five consecutive years.”

A pair of Canadian companies also made the contest’s list of “Fleets to Watch” (honourable mentions) for demonstrating innovation in their driver programs: Celadon Canada of Kitchener, Ont., and Transpro Freight Systems of Milton, Ont.

The nomination process began in the fall of 2012, when company drivers and owner/operators were asked to nominate carriers that operate 10 or more trucks. After confirming the validity of the nominations and the trucking companies’ desire to participate, CarriersEdge interviewed human resources representatives and executives of the nominated fleets about their corporate direction, policies, and programs. Nominated fleets were evaluated against a scoring matrix covering a variety of categories, such as:

• Total compensation package – including base pay, bonuses, vacation, and sick day allotment;
• Health benefits;
• Pension plans;
• Professional development opportunities (training, coaching programs, etc.);
• Career path/advancement opportunities;
• Commitment to employee personal growth, including work/life balance, driver family support, and employee-directed charitable contributions;
• Commitment to continuous improvement, including dispute resolution processes and inclusion of driver feedback in policymaking;
• Team building and driver community development activities;
• Annual driver turnover rate; and
• Fleet safety record.

A selection of each fleet’s drivers was also surveyed, with their feedback compared to management’s and incorporated into the final score. The responses were then tallied, resulting in the selection of this year’s winners and honourable mentions.

Mark Murrell, president of CarriersEdge, said: “It’s a pleasure to report that we had a 50% increase in nominations and participation for the fifth anniversary of the program. Clearly, being named a Best Fleet to Drive For is a prestigious title that is motivating companies to constantly raise the bar on the offerings they provide their truck drivers.”

Now that the winners have been named, the next phase of the contest is to announce the highest scoring fleets from each of two categories: Best Overall Fleet for Owner Operators and Best Overall Fleet for Company Drivers. The overall winners will be announced at the TCA Annual Convention, March 3-6 at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev.

Avatar photo

Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*

  • As I am highway Truck Driver (born Asia) see hundreds of other company trucks drives daily. I noticed that some trucks belongs to certain truck companies drives only by white people, which means to me that these companies hire only white people.
    This is an open discrimination to rest of all none white people specially in Canada, being a diversified country.
    Please change this policy attitude and give an opportunity to other communities to work as a team, irrespective of their colour and cast. Thanks

    • I live in Edmonton and 95% of gravel truck drivers are east indian and some company,s advertise for Punjabi speakers on now you tell me if that’s not discrimination. I have no problem with east indian drivers or drivers of any race but what I do have a problem with is people playing the race card

      • The reasons Indian drivers are in majority are because gravel trucking is a dirty job, not compensated for its work and the white drivers look down on this job. It is very typical for a white person to throw a “race card” lingo, anytime there is a blatant discrimination is pointed out.

        • I drove end dump truck in Red Deer and there are still many white people driving end dumps in alberta. I don’t look down on people who do it. It actually paid better than my long haul job does now. Your claim that white people are racist is racist. Racism exists everywhere in the world not just in North America, but to be honest about Racism I’ve been to 3rd world countries in Asia and the Carribean and I’ve experienced firsthand rascism against me a white man. I realized though that it’s not the race of people propogating racism but uneducated people who propogate such non sense. And anyone in America who cries foul that they are being oppressed by white folks over rascism really needs to see that when you go to foreign lands you need to come to terms with the fact that rascist people exist. Obviously if you haven’t travelled into other countries where your race is a minority then you probably haven’t experienced much rascism but let’s be honest those people are rascist are generally uneducated fools and they don’t represent the whole of a country, and it’s not as bad as it seems. If you are running into rascist people constantly it’s probably because you surround yourself around uneducated people. I never experienced rascism before I left Canada. And I would venture to say that 3rd world countries are probably more rascist than 1st world countries. Just look at the statistics of how many immigrants Canada and America lets into their country compared to others. And also look at how our justice system and culture works in dealing with rascism. No one who is educated on these things supports rascism.

      • There is an opportunity for every one who got the potential,passionate and determin to acheive goal canada and america. to b successful in ur life u have to b dedicated and determin to acheive ur goal. dere is no room for pickers n choosers. in my opinion only loosers have excuse for failure and please do not play race card we all are human and be human. u always find a vry few people around you wont like you so wot??but think about urself when u not like sum 1 around u??

        so my friends work hard n play hard. luv n peace

    • Dinu,

      Often, as a requirement of CTPat and FAST, drivers must be fluent in english. Many immigrants come to Canada and live within cliques which prevent them from improving their english skills and the social skills required to thrive in the North American environment. Additionally, their are many companies wholly owned and operated by visible minority groups who hire only within their race.

      • That is not true and is excuse normally used by those who want to block the argument of the race card. English is universal language today,but white Canada stress this subject when in fact that is not the case. Immigrants have English skills as well as technical skills but the problem has some thing to do with job protection. All high paying jobs white Canada does not want to be shared

      • Totally agree with you!i live in Edmonton to and you are RIGHT about these pebble haulers.they have definitely driven the price way down compared to a while ago!!!!!!

    • I’m a Born Canadian, I also drive truck… thinking about giving it up because I can’t compete with the East Indian trucking companies, and most of them only hire people who can speak Punjab, they work for almost nothing just to get the loads, and most of them are the worst drivers I have ever seen on the hi-ways, I hope to get out of trucking before one of them kill me, they don’t have any respect for other people on the roads, a lot of them are ruining it for the good drivers, DOT should be checking where these people are getting their Class 1 drivers licence

      • Where are u getting you information from? The C.B radio? Fox News is more reputable then the people this guy’s listening too. If they’re were steeling all the jobs then why is there still a huge demand for truck drivers. I have also found that when interacting with them most of them are very respectful people. Greeting me as “my brother” or “my friend”. I have also run into a very large majority of asshole white truck drivers that screen and yell at you if you or just give you the worst attitude for no reason. Some people need to stop living in their own bubble and start to interact with other people different from themselves. You will come to find a lot more similarities then differences in us all. “People want to judge other groups by their worst moments but then judge themselves by their best intentions”. George W. Bush.

        • Well said!!! My husband is starting work for an east indian company and he can’t wait! He is tired of all the lies from the recruiters at the big companies. The owner of the new trucking company, told my husband how it is, no bull crap.. they are respectful of all races. Everyone is human, equal.. btw, my husband is white…and they are more than happy to have him at their company

    • Stop lieing to your self there are plenty of Asian’s working for our company I’m a Chauhan dads from India hes been here for 40 years and i can say ya we are well off theres no racial stuff in Canada man only people who like to belive there is…do you know that in China ehite people are litteraly not aloud to drive truck be happy your living in ine of the best country’s in the world.

  • Dinu comments like that is not true and you know it comments like that from you are are full of dis says:

    Dinu comments like that are not true and you are the one discriminating against as you say white people. Canada has open its doors ,,,,,,,,,,,, and you are not looking very closely.Why are you here with white people, If a white person made a comment like that watch out enough is enough. The only person that has attitude is you.Open your eyes and stop discriminating against white people and Canada.In respective to white communities. A concerned Canadian a team player.

  • You do realize Not ALL White people were born in canada , those ” White People ” most likely are from another country just not yours .Nows who is Discriminating ??? foolish person

  • Dear Sirs,
    My name is Herbert Lange, I am 56 years old and I have with my son Daniel 23 years old, for a year in Canada to drive truck in front together. I drive for over 2 decades
    Truck, my son is a trained professional drivers and has already
    4 years of professional experience. We want to use this one year
    to find out if Canada is the land for our future.
    Preferably we would like to go on a truck together – tours in the United States. We are also willing to live this year only in the truck to get to know the country and people.
    herbertlange54@online.de

  • WOW! As an American CDL credentialed driver/citizen I am shocked that Mr. Dinu is having “race issues” in the Land of Ehh, truly amazing! I drive to Canada on a weekly basis and I maybe have heard a snicker joke once in a while about aboriginals or Yankees (ME) but mostly very civil and decent people. This is a big attraction for me to visit the “Land of Ehh”. In fact my family and I are starting the paperwork process to move to Canada, the U.S.A. has become dangerously divided over race/opportunities. I would also say if you have a problem with race /opportunies the door out of Canada swings out to……… LEAVE!
    Just saying!

    • I wish it was easy to move to the USA – husband a trucker and he goes from Canada to USA 5+ days per week – all we hear on the radio is American companies looking for drivers and we would love to move and be a trucker there but unfortunately cannot get a work visa. Duel citizens UK/Canadian.

  • Part 2:

    As an American CDL credentialed driver (Owner Operator) I would like to THANK the following Canadian companies for allowing me the privilege of contracting loads to and from Canada. They are;

    Mouemette Cranes – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
    Petro-Canada – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
    Landstar-Canada Ltd. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
    Royal Canadian Air Force, Nisku, Alberta, Canada.
    Also my Thanks to all of the RCMP scale officers and local constables for making my trips in Canada a safe, smooth and friendly experience!

  • i am a car driver, I want to send my thanks to all the truck drivers out there (all colours, cultures, races) who i feel make the road a safe place to be, you are the people who truly know how to drive. all of you,

    thank you

    Sol

  • hello, I’m an italian driver and I want to go to Canada . Some one can help me to find a very good truck company?
    bye

  • Let me tell y’all bout these pigheaded comments. I had a job driving for a Canadian carrier,, loss it due to color, race issues

    24 year veteran 1,500,000 miles

    • As the spouse of a CDL Driver of 9 years, I can honestly tell you that there are very few companies that I would trust. They make many promises and deliver few. We are considering moving to Canada. Since we are both skilled. Him being a driver and I’m an RN of 20 years. Just need to get passports and some grasp of the metric system

  • Hi, I am a 36 year old father of 4 living in the U.K. I am seriously considering moving to Canada to become a truck driver, I would appreciate any information that you guys could give me to help the process move along quickly and smoothly. Maybe some sort of information on who is the best companies to contact regarding full time work and where best to situate myself and my family to obtain the best education for my children and work prospects for myself. Any info will be great cheers guys.

    • I work in transportation as an analyst in British Columbia. BC is probably Canada’s most thriving province currently. We have a large amount of jobs available in transportation, forestry, and trades at the moment. The dollar is low in comparison to the US but because BC sells lumber in US dollars we’ve actually made money as a forestry industry giant with the dollar’s shift. Vancouver and Prince Rupert, both in BC, are major trading ports to Asia with Vancouver being the largest port in Canada. Also, our weather is spectacular. We rarely get snow in the Lowermainland of BC, spring starts early and autumn begins late.

      In terms of racial inequality unfortunately that is culturally something our nation has seen many times with the inflation of certain ethnicity immigrating. You will find that in the trucking industry there may very well be a trucking company that will require you to speak Pubjabi in order to be considered for hire due to communication inefficiencies. When my parents immigrated from Italy communities of Italians would frequently house together in the same neighbourhood for sake of comfort-ability. It happens. I wouldn’t read too much into it, most of us understand that assimilation into a new place requires time and patience and care and compassion, I’d like to think most Canadians possess these qualities so the empathy is there.

      Please see: http://www.bctrucking.com/careers/job-postings
      Listed will be companies that have membership with the BCTA. There are many many other companies as well but usually BCTA members have the cleanest reputations and offer reasonable benefit opportunities.

  • I am saddened the stress I’ve had to bare since my spouse went into this industry. In 2 years he’s had around 6 jobs. .. Most companies he’s worked for have Los ethics especially when it comes to non-white drivers. They pay low, lie at interview about the pay after advertising they pay well….. my spouse has worked in Calgary, done long haul, local….he’s jus about tried different options in this industry. It’s driving us into debt…. we have a family and a special needs child. I’m so distraught how little regulations these companies get. And no union to regulate companies and drivers….does not help. I wish Canada could do more. You would think distribution is not a necessity the way these drivers especially non-whites are treated

  • I have thoroughly read through this post. I have been in the transportation business since 1995, 21 years and counting. What I find most frustrating overall is how our Canadian Government will preach regulations, however their follow-up is inconsistent at best. I have hauled Coca~Cola to Oilfield Products, driven gravel trucks, tankers, reefers, and flatdeck, now I find myself in a mid-management position where I see not a “race” making better income, I see guys/gals who have found holes in the system which in turn brings down the overall professionalism that once existed, to all of you like myself who can say honestly I have 1,000,000 miles under my feet, I have nothing but respect for ya, for those of you who want to complain, play the race card, and feel you are owed something…. well I won’t print that, (two words, seven letters)

  • Good companies want and need good drivers, period. Bad companies don’t care and inexperienced drivers tend to get drawn in to those types of companies. Results, a never ending revolving door of really good people with low experience and many bad habits. Lack of pre-trip knowledge, low driving experience in needed areas (Local in town or highway). Many companies do not have the luxury of training their own, or wanting to take chances with low experienced drivers with many bad habits.
    Regardless, it doesn’t matter about ethnicity. If you want to work, want to be treated well, learn your trade, be as good as you can be, don’t settle for the basic standard that both many training schools and ICBC certify drivers for. Any trade training, electrician, construction, heavy equipment and class 1 training is costly. The difference is the professionalism behind the training and certification. Much like a back yard mechanic who screws up your car, the “carpenter” that messes with the structural integrity of your house, poorly trained drivers create havoc on the roads for the public and degrade reputations of quality drivers and companies alike.

  • Well the trucking industry has become an important part of life for people having jobs that consists of moving from places to places (like me). I recently moved in to Canada, Toronto and got in touch with the company royal trucking of Canada. Their services were more than I had ever recieved before and their customer care team is quite friendly(I mean I called them to confirm my transfer schedule 2 times and the second time the operator herself came to me with his assistant to clear my doubts) I was quite surprised by their services and I had my transfer done easily without any problems. I think their services do come in best services that companies offer.

  • Hi all,
    I work for Vedder Transport in the tanker division. Good company, repair their equipment right away, fair pay and benefits. We are union, CLAC, they are not much of a union but which union is.

    All in all. I do recommend Vedder Transport. I have my negative opinions about trucking and Vedder. But find a company where everything is perfect for yourself.

    Good companies are out there.