Eastern carriers merge to form Atlantica fleet

REXTON, N.B. — Two of Atlantic Canada’s most popular and respected trucking carriers have joined forces in a deal that is said to make both companies stronger going forward.

Effective April 1, 2010, Warren Transport and D.D. Transport are merging their general freight and equipment-repair facilities under the nameplate, Atlantica Diversified Transportation Systems.

Warren’s Vaughn Sturgeon will serve as ADTS’s president while D.D.’s Gordon Peddle will be vice-president and chief operating officer.

The combined fleet will consist of 300 pieces of equipment with annual sales in the range of $25-30 million over the next year.

Warren’s dry van and refrigerated operations and the entire flatbed operations of Mount Pearl, Nfld.-based D.D. Transport Ltd., are part of the deal. Warren’s bulk transport and construction divisions are not included.

Nor are any layoffs. The companies say all affected facilities will remain open.

ADTS’s headquarters will be in Rexton, N.B., while maintaining offices and operations in Mount Pearl and Clarenville, Nfld.; Bathurst, N.B.; and Debert and Liverpool, N.S.

Neither carrier is large, but both fleet owners have been influentially involved in trucking advocacy at both the regional and national levels, holding top positions with the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association and working with the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

"The merger … means more efficient service for our customers, while our employees will have expanded career opportunities within the new company," said Sturgeon in a press release. "Atlantica is a growth-oriented company looking into the future and committed to the efficiencies of scale.

Whereas D.D. Transport provided more regional coverage, Warren Transport will cover North America "so Atlantica will benefit from better reach in a world where security restrictions are expanding every day," said Peddle. "The merger of our freight businesses makes sense.

"From an operations perspective, this merger will also allow us to eventually renew our fleet to more environmentally friendly vehicles that have zero emissions."