TransForce scoops western LTL fleet

MONTREAL — After a short hiatus from fleet buying, TransForce has announced the acquisition of Edmonton-based Byers Transportation System and all its divisions. Financial conditions were not disclosed.

A subsidiary of Landtran Systems, Byers is a western regional LTL carrier with annual revenues of about $70 million. With over 35 branches and five hub terminals, Byers operates in over 1,000 communities in Alberta, B.C., NWT and the Yukon, and through partner connections in the northwest U.S.

The purchase will give TransForce a real connection to Canada’s far north, says Alain Bédard, President and CEO of TransForce Income Fund.

Paul Flanagan, who has been with Byers for 18 years, will be promoted to president, and will lead the company’s management team.

Consistent with TransForce’s strategy of acquiring successful and well-managed companies, the Byers management team will continue to execute their proven business strategy and manage their customer
relationships as a wholly owned independent subsidiary of the Income Fund.

TransForce, Canada’s largest for-hire company and arguably the most dominant player in Ontario-Quebec lanes, has begun focusing on acquisition trails in the west lately.

Last year, the company started dipping into the booming oilfield services sector by acquiring companies such as Rebel Transport and Kos Oilfield Transportation. They were folded into the TransForce’s largest western subsidiary, Canadian Freightways.

“The acquisition of Byers Transportation strengthens the TransForce presence in western Canada and provides unique access to the Yukon and Northwest Territories” said Bédard in a press release. “Byers will complement our less-than-truckload business by increasing route density in existing service areas and by extending our geographic coverage into previously unserviced
locations.”

Byers is well known in western trucking circles as a feisty, hard-working, competitive company. In 1987 it survived the most devastating tornado to hit Alberta. Despite that its terminal, offices, and entire fleet of trucks and equipment were completely destroyed, Byers was up and running in just a couple days with temporary dock facilities, remote maintenance and offices, and a new fleet of rented replacement trucks and trailers.

The deal is subject to customary conditions and approvals, and is expected to close by early August 2006.