NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The final chapter has come for the founders of Northern trucking company Matco Transportation Systems.
Matco celebrated its 45th anniversary with a barbecue in Yellowknife in 2011 where Damen Anderson, left, owner Ray Anderson and owner Lloyd Anderson chat beside one of the trucks from their fleet. Damen, Ray's son, is regional manager. Matco was started in 1966 in Norman Wells and has just been sold to Manitoulin Transport. - NNSL file photo
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Mid-Arctic Transportation Co. Ltd. (Matco), as the company was incorporated by brothers Ray Anderson and Lloyd Anderson in Norman Wells in 1966, has been sold.
Manitoulin Transport, a transportation and logistics solutions provider based in Gore Bay, Ont., which boasts a fleet of some 3,000 pieces of transportation equipment and 60 terminals across Canada, announced the acquisition of Matco on April 9.
Under the leadership of Ray and Lloyd, Matco grew from its first terminal in Norman Wells into a regional enterprise of its own, with terminals in Edmonton, Calgary, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Hay River and Whitehorse. It built up over the years into a fleet of 30 tractors, 60 trailers, 150 containers and 50 local trucks, with a staff of 180 people.
"We didn't build our company for sale," said Ray Anderson. "We built it to be sustainable and we're in the twilight of our active years in management and ownership and so when Manitoulin approached us, we were interested in what they had to say.
"We knew them to be a respectable competitor in the marketplace. They've always been responsible and they're family-owned as well and the more discussions proceeded, we thought that we could bring more to them than just enhance their own traffic."
Matco is Manitoulin's second transportation company acquisition in just four weeks, and its fifth acquisition in the past year.
Matco will continue to operate under its existing name as Manitoulin capitalizes on the strength of the brand in the Northern marketplace.
"That was their intention, to keep the Matco brand alive. It's more familiar in the North," Ray Anderson said. "We like to say we're big in small places."
Manitoulin president Don Goodwill was not available for an interview but said the company plans to keep Matco's existing services the same, according to a written statement sent to News/North.
Matco provides domestic and international freight services, household goods relocation services and warehousing.
The company's staff members are also staying on under the new ownership, including vice-president and general manager Wayne Wishloff, regional manager Damen Anderson and the manager of Matco's freight division, Dale Mullen.
Past owners Lloyd Anderson and Ray Anderson are staying on in a consulting capacity.
"It's bittersweet you know, when you build a company like this, to relinquish ownership. But when Manitoulin came along with a respectable offer and conditions, it was attractive for us to take the rewards from our past ownership and we're pleased that they have taken on the Matco brand," Ray Anderson said. "And as I said, we were dealing with them in the marketplace, they were stable and they're a national company in Canada and they have international services as well, so they have a much bigger coverage than we do."
Manitoulin's large operations base will stand the company in good stead as they expand into the Northern marketplace where Matco has weathered its share of economic storms over the past 40-plus years, Anderson said.
"The Northwest Territories and Yukon marketplaces have been very volatile, very boom and bust kind of thing," he said. "It's been very hard for us to adapt and we got a lot of pride here, so it's easier for us when somebody bigger and better comes along rather than having being forced to sell."
