Trucking Life
Pink truck celebrates fifth Express Mondor golf tournament for breast cancer
LANORAIE, Que. – Whether they were on they dance floor or the 19th hole, for 160 participants in this year’s Express Mondor golf tournament and fundraising dinner the day was a hole in one. This year marked the fifth for the yearly day on the links raising funds for the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation at Club de golf Berthier. The foursomes on the course followed the event up with a dinner attended by 200 where a cheque for $25,000 was presented to the foundation. That amount brings the five-year total the company has raised to more than $130,000.
Trucking went plaid for dad
TORONTO, Ont. – The trucking industry continues to wrap itself in Plaid for Dad to support Prostate Cancer Canada – and this year Arnold Bros. Transport even earned the coveted plaid vest awarded to the fundraising campaign’s top workplace champion. The fleet accounted for more than $19,000 of about $50,000 raised by 20 carriers and suppliers this year, according to Trucks for Change, which helped to coordinate industry efforts. It’s the first time an individual fleet has won the award, but trucking industry efforts have dominated the Plaid for Dad fundraising in recent years. An Ontario Trucking Association team earned the vest in 2016, while a Canadian Trucking Alliance team earned the top spot in 2017.
A driver’s long road to mental health
VAUGHAN, Ont. – The tone in Morris Bellus’ voice can only be described a jovial, but it wasn’t always that way. This year marked the third the 19-year veteran of the road participated in the Ride Don’t Hide for the Peel-Dufferin branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). When he registered for his first year on the 100-km bike ride, he’d only been pedaling a stationary bike at the gym for about three months, attempting to jump start a change in his mental health.
Peel testing off-peak deliveries
BRAMPTON, Ont. – Peel Region, on the western edge of Toronto, will run a pilot project to test off-peak deliveries between July and December – and it has recruited some major operations to participate. Participants include the LCBO, Loblaw Companies, PepsiCo, Walmart Canada, and Weston Foods. The region’s Smart Freight Centre will support the project with expertise from the University of Toronto, McMaster University and York University. Deloitte Canada will be advisors on the project. The goal is to help optimize highways and other major arteries in the area, focusing on where freight is moving, maximizing existing infrastructure, and seeing what infrastructure could benefit from new investment.
Family road trip marks Mackie’s 90th year
WHITBY, Ont. -- Ross Mackie has 84 years of memories with Mackie Transportation, and in June he hit the road to make a few more. Founded in 1928 the company was just six years old when Ross was born. Now in its 90th year the fleet has been run by five generations of the Mackie family. To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the company four generations of Mackie’s piled into a Peterbilt 578 and drove from Whitby to Seattle with a full load, and stops in Manitoba and Vancouver along the way.
Trucks of the Month: Crazy ’bout the Mercury
WINNIPEG, Man. -- Seaton “Red” Coleman of Big Freight Systems found his 1942 Chevrolet among ads in the American Truck Historical Society’s magazine. The former fire truck had to be imported from Minnesota for a restoration, but it would serve as the perfect homage to South East Transfer – the four-truck Manitoba fleet he convinced his dad to buy in 1948, establishing the business that would eventually carry the Big Freight name.
UPS honors those with more than 25 collision-free years
TORONTO, Ont. – Ask drivers where they hate driving in Southern Ontario and they’ll probably tell you it’s Toronto. With its crowded roadways and sometimes careless drivers the area can be a minefield, but in the nearly three decades of moving through Toronto traffic Edward Joseph hasn’t had a single at-fault accident. Joseph drives a “feeder” truck for UPS – a Class 8 carrying packages to distribution centers before they head out for delivery. He was one of 19 Southern Ontario drivers inducted into the 2018 Circle of Honor June 20.
