ExpoCam Provides Recruiting Opportunities for Companies

MONTREAL — Mercer Transportation Co. is a regular at the Mid-America Trucking Show because the flatbed carrier and MATS share Louisville, Ky., as a hometown — but that was not a reason to avoid ExpoCam.

“We’re here recruiting for contractors,” said Raffique Providence, a Louisville-based recruiter, at the April 20-22 show here.

“We’ve got more freight than we have contractors,” he said, adding that Mercer uses all owner-operators and has loads that cross the border in both directions.

Providence said the driver shortage might even be a little worse in Canada than the U.S. He worked the Truck World show in suburban Toronto and said this is his first time at this show, but Mercer has been recruiting at Canadian shows for six years.

MORE FROM EXPOCAM: Volvo displays VNR | Navistar unveils RH | Mack | Aerodynamics

If he can bring 50 new owner-operators into the fold for Mercer, Providence said he and his colleagues at the booth will have been very successful.

Day & Ross Transportation Group of Hartland, New Brunswick, was also working the show in search of owner-operators.

Safety supervisor Martin Brennan said D&R has terminals in all 10 provinces. They do truckload and less-than-truckload without intermodal, so a regular longhaul route for the company is Montreal to Vancouver, or about 2,850 miles on the all-Canada option.

“This is an industry that’s really hard on drivers,” Brennan said, adding that an important reason for D&R to work the show is because one of the best ways to help its current drivers is to bring in more new colleagues to help them.