LTL Freight Carrier - US to Canada?

[BirdieO]

Just thought I would see if anyone has any first hand experience with a good, reliable, service oriented LTL freight carrier that runs from CA to Canada?? We move a lot of pallet freight from Southern California to Okotoks and are looking around to see if we might find a company that is more reliable than the one we've been using...referrals always seem to be a safer way to find someone than just a good ol' fashioned Google search!!

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Trax 2 Treadz]

Birdie we move alot of freight across the US and we actually never ship across the border we go down and broker it across ourselves. The money you will save is well worth the trip. We have the freight shipped to our address in Sweet Grass MT then take our trailer down and do our own B3's at the border and we are good to go. The last shipping company we used was Estes which was the original carrier. We have also used Lakeville, I think they were called they were more expensive the Estes. The guys at Estes have always treated us well but you have to realize that is just the original carrier it gets switched to different carriers along the way depending on routes. Does that make sense?

Jan

Jan

 

[BirdieO]

Birdie we move alot of freight across the US and we actually never ship across the border we go down and broker it across ourselves. The money you will save is well worth the trip. We have the freight shipped to our address in Sweet Grass MT then take our trailer down and do our own B3's at the border and we are good to go. The last shipping company we used was Estes which was the original carrier. We have also used Lakeville, I think they were called they were more expensive the Estes. The guys at Estes have always treated us well but you have to realize that is just the original carrier it gets switched to different carriers along the way depending on routes. Does that make sense?

Hey Jan,
Thanks for the info!! Our customs broker actually flat rates us because we bring in such volume on a regular basis so I'm really not worried about that cost at all...it's worth our time to have it shipped to us and have someone else deal with the headache of importing it all We're a little further from the border than you guys are too so that makes a big difference and we generally bring in 2 - 4 pallets at a time so it just makes sense to have it shipped to our door...

We've always had pretty good luck with finding carriers that have a regular run from CA to AB without transferring trucks...we just haven't had the greatest luck finding an outfit that gives a crap about offering reliable service!! I would be willing to pay a bit more per load if I could sleep at night, knowing it was going to show up when promised...not 3-5 days later!

I'll take a look at Estes and see what their story is...thanks!!

 

[Trukker]

I may know of someone that is even pretty close to you guys...............................

 

[BirdieO]

I may know of someone that is even pretty close to you guys...............................

Funny...cuz soon after I posted this, Kev actually mentioned that...we should talk!!

 

[catinthehat]

I may know of someone that is even pretty close to you guys...............................

We can't take the suspense anymore!!!!!! Please Please tell us who it is..

lol

 

[CATPRIDE]

.............relax its fed ex

 

[gordhunt]

Can-tran in Leduc is a great freight broker.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Trax 2 Treadz]

Yeah we ship 1-2 pallets every month from Paynesville to Sweet Grass.

 

[HRT Offroad]

Thanks Jan...we are a little bit different beast We generally have 4-8 pallets a month come up (5 in the last week and a half) and our average pallet is 1500-2000 lbs. so border pick-up isn't a viable option for us. If I valued my time in combination with travel costs and vehicle/equipment maintenance etc...it is far less expensive for us to have delivery to the door

 

[Trukker]

We'll look after ya Kev

 

[Trax 2 Treadz]

I see ours are all light weight sled parts.