New "small fleet", need your assistance/advice please
 

Good day all.

I am curently in the trucking business in South Africa and am moving to Canada early next year. I would very much like to continue in the trucking industry when i get to Canada. I have already been over and discussed finance with a finance company, so i do know that getting the trucks is not going to be a problem. I would like to buy 3 to 5 tractors. Obviously as i am not from "the area" i dont know the market very well, so i was hoping to be able to place my tractors in an existing fleet rather than to go on my own off the bat. Kind of like o/o but for 3 to 5 trucks. Do any of you have any suggestions as to where i may be able to place the trucks? All i want is to have my trucks working for one company that keeps them busy all year round and doesnt pay too badly :)

Any advice/suggestions or anything else would be most appreciated :)

Thanks in advance everyone.

I'm from Canada. I'm not an O/O but have 20 years experience in trucking and logistics and write software for O/O's and truckers.

It will depend on where you are going in Canada. We're a pretty big country so you'd have to be a little more specific about a city or region. For example, I'm in Ontario and it's huge on it's own. I'm about an hour from Toronto. So wherever you plan to locate, you should think about being close to where the freight is for your sake as a business person, and your driver's sake for their efficiency also.

The auto industry is usually good and if you plan to locate in Ontario, do yourself a favour and be somewhere close to Kitchener or London. You're close to the American border, on a major highway (the 401) and the heart of the Canadian industry is practically there, with all the auto parts manufacturers and car makers. There's a lot of other industry there too.

That said, if you have up to about 5 trucks, you could put them on with Challenger or Trans-Frt McNamara. Laidlaw is another good one. I'd check out Over The Road (you should be able to find that via Google) - it's a magazine that has listings of different companies that are looking for o/o's and drivers.

Hope that helps, sir.

Shawn
Contrast Logistics Software
Welcome

Thanks for the response Shawn, i have emailed all of those companies, lets see if we get some good feedback.

To answer you question, we will be moving to Alberta, near Aetna, we will be looking for a small farm to buy, kind of like what you guys call a "hobby farm" i believe. From there we can operate everything.

I must say, with all the drama going on in South Africa at the moment, i cant wait tog et out of here and move to a civilized place where i can raise my family in safety!!!!