Six out of 20 Best Fleets to Drive For Canadian

ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Brian Kurtz Trucking Ltd., Erb Group of Companies, Steed Standard Transport Ltd., TimeLine Logistic International, Trimac Transportation, and Yanke Group of Companies; check them all out, see what types of human resource programs they’re running, and implement those programs into your own company.

All six of the Canadian companies made Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and CarriersEdge 2013 Best Fleets to Drive For list.

Keep an eye on Celadon and Transpro Freight Systems, too — they made TCA’s “Fleets to Watch” list this year.

It’s the fifth year of TCA’s survey, but also Saskatoon-based Yanke’s fifth year of making the list. It’s the only company to hold that distinction. “I think that’s a real achievement, considering how much we’ve seen fleets improve their programs since we started,” said TCA President Chris Burruss. “It’s very difficult to get named a Best Fleet to begin with, let alone remain on the list for five consecutive years.”

How it works is company drivers and owner operators are asked to nominate carriers that operate 10 trucks or more. CarriersEdge then interviews human resources representatives and executives of the nominated fleets about their corporate direction, policies, and programs. Nominated fleets were evaluated against a scoring matrix in a multitude of categories:

  • Total compensation package, including: base pay, bonuses, vacation, and sick day allotment
  • Health benefits
  • Pension plans
  • Professional development opportunities (training, coaching programs, etc.)
  • Career path/advancement opportunities
  • Commitment to employee personal growth, including work/life balance, driver family support, and employee-directed charitable contributions
  • Commitment to continuous improvement, including dispute resolution processes and inclusion of driver feedback in policymaking
  • Team building and driver community development activities
  • Annual driver turnover rate and efforts to improve

A handful of drivers from each fleet are also surveyed. The feedback from those drivers is compared to management’s feedback, TCA explained.

The contest is becoming more popular, too. “We had a 50 percent increase in nominations and participation for the fifth anniversary of the program,” noted Mark Murrell, president of CarriersEdge.

The next phase of the contest is to announce the highest scoring fleets from each of two categories: Best Overall Fleet for Owner Operators and Best Overall Fleet for Company Drivers. That announcement comes at the TCA Annual Convention, March 3-6, in Las Vegas, NV.

Here’s the full list of 20 Best Fleets to Drive For

Brian Kurtz Trucking Ltd. – Breslau, Ontario

Erb Group of Companies – New Hamburg, Ontario

Fremont Contract Carriers – Fremont, Nebraska

FTC Transportation, Inc. – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Gordon Trucking, Inc. – Pacific, Washington

Grand Island Express – Grand Island, Nebraska

Halvor Lines, Inc. – Superior, Wisconsin

Landstar System, Inc. – Jacksonville, Florida

Load One Transportation & Logistics – Taylor, Michigan

Motor Carrier Service, Inc. – Northwood, Ohio

Paramount Freight Systems – Jeffersonville, Ohio

Sammons Trucking – Missoula, Montana

Spirit Truck Lines, Inc. – San Juan, Texas

Steed Standard Transport Ltd. – Stratford, Ontario

Steelman Transportation – Springfield, Missouri

Tennant Truck Lines, Inc. – Colona, Illinois

TimeLine Logistic International – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Trimac Transportation – Calgary, Alberta

WTI Transport – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Yanke Group of Companies – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Fleets to Watch

Celadon Canada – Kitchener, Ontario

Farm2Fleet – Gibson City, Illinois

Freight Exchange of North America, LLC – Chicago, Illinois

Prime, Inc. – Springfield, Missouri

Transpro Freight Systems Ltd. – Milton, Ontario


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