A Nova Scotia trucking firm specializing in fruit and other refrigerated produce has been bought up by an expansion-minded neighbour.
Clarke Road Transport, the full-load trucking arm of Halifax investment firm Clarke Inc., announced Thursday it had bought Select Transport Inc. of Windsor, N.S. from J.W. Mason and Sons for an undisclosed sum.
Mason’s, a producer and distributor of Annapolis Valley apples, juice and snacks, operated Select as a fleet of 53-foot, satellite-tracked air-ride reefer units, available for bookings "to and from anywhere in North America."
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Operating in Nova Scotia’s apple business since 1939, Mason’s said it entered the trucking business as a way of accelerating its produce deliveries within Canada and the U.S., to better maintain freshness.
"This strategic acquisition expands our service offering into the area of refrigerated transport," Clarke Road Transport president Dean Cull said in Clarke’s release. "It will allow us to better service our existing customers and build out our client base."
The added fleet is also expected to improve Clarke Road’s efficiency by making the most use of its own equipment, the company said.
Clarke Inc. CEO Rod Normandeau said the Select deal "will add scale and breadth to Clarke Road, one of our established core investments."
The trucking businesses, Normandeau said, "have held up well in a relatively tough operating environment and we are optimistic about their future performance."
