January 2014 Volume 34, Issue 1 Delivering daily news to Canada’s trucking industry at www.trucknews.com
Shopping season
M&A activity picks up in fourth quarter TORONTO, Ont. – Those who closely watch the Canadian transportation mergers and acquisitions scene have been bemoaning a lack of activity thus far in 2013. That silence was shattered in mid-November, beginning with the blockbuster acquisition of Yanke Group assets by Celadon Canada. The acquisition, first reported on Trucknews.com Nov. 16, includes about 300 tractors, making Celadon one of Canada’s largest trucking outfits with a truck count of about 800 units. Yanke’s headquarters in Saskatoon – and the office staff that worked there – were not included in the deal. In a message to drivers, Yanke founder Russel Marcoux, noted “The time has come for me to move on, and in keeping with the culture and values we created together at Yanke, it is important to me that the torch gets passed on to an organization that shares many of the same values and beliefs we all supported and practiced at Yanke.” He went on to say “I am confident that Celadon Canada is a company that will continue to respect and value you as individuals rather than unit numbers and that you can expect open and honest communication and genuine concern for your well-being, as Continued on page 18
Season’s Greetings to you all!
Pricing power
The days of pricing based on falling costs are over. And with the economy expected to trudge along at a slow pace for the next couple of years, you won’t find any help there. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity to raise prices.
By Jason Rhyno TORONTO, Ont. – Noel Perry of FTR Associates is holding up four fingers and one thumb. He had asked a room full of Ontario trucking executives, rhetorically, “how many dry van carriers or reefer carriers have the capability to bid – in a big way –
Taking it off-road
on a Walmart tender?” He was talking about pricing in trucking during the Ontario Trucking Association’s (OTA) Annual General Meeting at its yearly, and very wellattended, economic outlook session. Perry, along with John Larkin, managing director, Stifel Associates; Doug
Payne, president and COO, Nulogx; and Emanuella Enenajor, economist, CIBC World Markets, talked about the economy and what to expect next year. The brunt of the conversation, however, was about the need for not only carriers and shippers to work Continued on page 12
Inside This Issue...
Volvo has built a new off-road track. And • Economic outlook: Reports on the economy from the US and Canada paint different pictures of what to expect in 2014. And we were among the first to drive it. did somebody say recession?
Pages 20-21
• Protecting your investment:
Truck tires are an expensive investment. Are you treating them as such? Page 41
• Trucking in Mexico: What’s trucking like in Mexico? We visited
and found a surprisingly sophisticated fleet and an industry in transition. Pages 46-47
• The Truxpo Gambit: Mark Dalton continues to feel the heat from former foes at the truck show.
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Page 44-45
To view List of Advertisers visit us at www.trucknews.com
Careers 2-3, 30-44
Ad Index 49 PM40069240
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