March 3 was a big night for Canadian members of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) as Ontario and Manitoba fleets claimed both TCA Fleet Safety Award grand prizes.

Ayr, Ont.-based Mill Creek Motor Freight took home the grand prize in the small carrier category, which recognizes companies with total annual mileage of less than 25 million miles. The fleet was also recognized as one of the Division III winners, among fleets running 15–24.99 million miles. Winnipeg-based Bison Transport once again claimed the grand prize in the large carrier category (carriers running more than 25 million miles), while being one of the Division VI winners — a category for fleets running 100 million miles or more.

Bison earned the prize for building a safety culture that goes beyond compliance, by placing drivers at the centre of decision-making and empowering them to stop working whenever conditions become unsafe, TCA said.

Accepting the award, Garth Pitzel, director of safety and driver development at Bison, credited the company’s people and drivers.

“We’re certainly blessed, as an organization, for people to believe in and support our culture and safety… I’d like to congratulate all the award recipients tonight. And for the carriers that are in the audience — keep striving to get on this stage. And the reason to do that is to make sure professional drivers make it home for their families.”

In the small fleet category, Mill Creek stood out for making safety a core value throughout the organization, supported by clear communication, defined responsibilities, and a structured safety program, according to TCA.

“It’s great to be here and accept it, but at the end of the day, it’s our drivers. They’re the ones who are out there making these decisions every single day. They’re the ones who are out there being safe. We can put all the programs in front, but it’s them making those decisions,” said Richard Haan, general manager of the company, who accepted the award.

The 2025 TCA Fleet Safety Award division winners are:

Division I (less than 5 million miles)

1st place: CJ Logistics Transportation, Des Plaines, Ill.
2nd place: Spur Freight Services, an AIT Worldwide Logistics company, Austin, Texas
3rd place: Specialty Transport, Knoxville, Tenn

Division II (5–14.99 million miles)

1st place: B.R. Williams Trucking, Eastaboga, Ala.
2nd place: Clopay Transportation Company, Troy, Ohio
3rd place: Transportes Olympic, Nuevo León, Mexico

Division III (15–24.99 million miles)

1st place: Christenson Transportation, Strafford, Mo.
2nd place: Chalk Mountain Services of Texas, Fort Worth, Texas
3rd place: Mill Creek Motor Freight, Ayr, Ont.

Division IV (25–49.99 million miles)

1st place: Triple Eight Transport, Abbotsford, B.C.
2nd place: 4Tracks, CentrePort, Man.
3rd place: Johnson Feed, Canton, S.D.

Division V (50–99.99 million miles)

1st place: May Trucking Company, Salem, Ore.
2nd place: Carter Express, Anderson, Ind.
3rd place: PGT Trucking, Aliquippa, Pa.

Division VI (100 million or more miles)

1st place: NFI Industries, Camden, N.J.
2nd place: Bison Transport, Winnipeg, Man.
3rd place: Marten Transport, Mondovi, Wis.