The trucking industry is a highly underrated and overlooked component of international trade.
Most exports and imports are shipped to market via a flatbed, trailer or tanker trucks. Freight trucks deliver raw materials, intermediate goods and finished products to manufacturing plants, warehouses and retailers around the world.
Canada's Top Trucking Company
Canada's foremost trucking firm is an income trust that operates Canada's largest trucking fleet. TransForce manages about 4,700 diesel-fuelled driver cabs, some 12,000 trailers, and over 1,600 independent truck owner-operators at December 31, 2006.
Headquartered in Montreal, TransForce runs close to 200 distribution facilities across Canada. The firm directly serves more urban centres than any other Canadian competitor. Almost 40% of TransForce's terminals are in Alberta and British Columbia while Quebec is home to 28%. Ontario has 26% of these terminals and 6% are in the Maritimes. TransForce has 2 terminals in the U.S.
TransForce's Clients
In 2006, 15% of the company's clients were in the forestry industry; 14% were retailers; energy and automotive accounted for 12%; building materials and waste management both represented 8%; maritime containers and metals/mining both came in at 6%; chemicals and explosives added up to 5%; and food and beverages finished at 4%. The remaining 10% came from many other industries.
No single client generated more than 10% of overall company revenue. Major TransForce clients include Staples, Alcan, CP Ships, General Motors and Kruger Papers.
TransForce's Businesses
In 2006, TransForce's four business segments generated US$1.2 billion in total revenue, up 21% from the prior year.
- Less Than Truckload & Parcel Delivery (37% of 2006 revenue, up 6% from 2005)
- Truckload Services (23%, up 11%)
- Specialized Services (23%, up 67%)
- Specialized Truckload (17%, up 27%).
Less Than Truckload delivers a daily average of 12,000 partial truckloads across Canada and the U.S. while Parcel Delivery picks up some 100,000 Canadian parcels.
Truckload Services moves more full trailers of products directly to the client than any other Canadian trucker.
Specialized Services offers such specialties as on-site consulting and waste management. Specialized Truckload carries shipments that demand special handling such as explosives, petroleum, and urgent rush deliveries.
TransForce Acquisitions
Since 2002, TransForce has acquired over 30 trucking firms that have boosted revenue by an estimated 250%. In 2007, the trucking giant plans to target troubled trucking companies in Ontario and Quebec affected by slower Canadian exports.
TransForce Continues To Deliver Growth
After implementing a new automated delivery hub in Toronto, TransForce's CanPar business has 40% more capacity than presently used. Analysts see CanPar increasing TransForce's annual revenue by up to US$53 million through additional shipments in the Montreal-Toronto corridor.
In the short-term, CN Railway's strike forced customers like Alcan to rent more of TransForce's tanker trucks for client deliveries.
Sources For This Article
This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data drawn from source material on transforce.ca. This article focuses on TransForce's Q4 2006 management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and its February 26, 2007 news release "TransForce fund's Q4 profit jumps to $55.1M".
Daniel Workman - A senior business and finance writer who also does French translations, notably international trade and insurance materials.
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