TORONTO, Ont. — Industry veteran Vernon Erb, founder of the Erb Group of Companies, was presented with the Trailmobile Service to the Industry award at the Ontario Trucking Association’s convention last week.

The award is considered to be the highest honour bestowed on a trucking executive. Erb has been trucking since 1956 and purchased his first truck in 1959. He began by hauling everything from eggs to feed, eventually settling into hauling refrigerated cargo in 1965.

He developed key relationships with customers, which enabled Erb to grow the business in prosperous times and maintain his customers when times were tough, according to the OTA. Over 50 years, Erb grew the fleet from one truck to more than 700 power units and 900 trailers operating out of 10 terminals in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Pennsylvania.

The OTA said Erb enjoyed taking his own company truck on runs with his wife, Viola. Over the years, Erb has won some prestigious awards, including: the 1991 Citizen of the Year Award for Community Service, Wilmot Township; the 1993 Governor General’s Commemorative Medal; the 2003 Colonel Robert Hardie Award of Lifetime Achievement from the OTA; as well as an induction into the Waterloo County Hall of Fame, which came in 2003.

Erb handed the reins of the company over to his son Wendell in 1999 and a third generation of Erb’s now works at the fleet. These days, Erb can often be found working at his farm, which he initially left to pursue a career in trucking.