Trucking Life
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.
