Emphasizing safety and service in the trucking business

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigus,
[00:07] SPEAKER_01: a managing editor of Canada's Podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: Joining me today on Edmonton's Podcast
[00:12] SPEAKER_01: is Matthew Holstad, who is president of Sharp Trucking Services.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today, Matthew.
[00:21] SPEAKER_01: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
[00:22] SPEAKER_01: Well, let's start off just a little bit.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: Tell me about the company and what you guys do.
[00:29] SPEAKER_01: Sure. So Sharp Trucking Services is a traditional oil field services.
[00:34] SPEAKER_02: Trucking company based here in Edmonton,
[00:36] SPEAKER_02: we service the Northern oil patch,
[00:38] SPEAKER_02: hauling equipment and piping and facing all due to Northern Alberta.
[00:43] SPEAKER_02: It wasn't long after that, the company evolved into the mining industry
[00:47] SPEAKER_02: and taking explosives all through the mines into Northern BC and Alberta
[00:52] SPEAKER_02: and ultimately into the UConn.
[00:55] SPEAKER_01: Okay, then. And how did the company start?
[00:59] SPEAKER_02: I started with two cousins, Brett and Ian,
[01:02] SPEAKER_02: this cousin, Mark Craddock,
[01:04] SPEAKER_02: two local Alberta guys and saw opportunity
[01:08] SPEAKER_02: and like everything in Alberta,
[01:12] SPEAKER_02: it's the goal of the state to claim a build a business.
[01:16] SPEAKER_02: And how did you become involved?
[01:19] SPEAKER_02: How I got involved in the business is there was a bit of a tragic accident,
[01:22] SPEAKER_02: one of the founders, Mark was involved in an auto-vaccine and tragically killed.
[01:30] SPEAKER_02: Brett, his partner and his cousin,
[01:31] SPEAKER_02: took over the business outright after a bit of time.
[01:35] SPEAKER_02: Brett and I had no idea how to have a mutual colleague,
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: she made an introduction to Brett and I.
[01:41] SPEAKER_02: Brett and I started talking and came together on some strategy and some growth plans
[01:46] SPEAKER_02: and ultimately started working together and I joined the company in 2020.
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: Tell me a little bit about, I guess, that industry.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: What's it like to use days for the industry that you're in?
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: Trucking is an interesting business.
[02:07] SPEAKER_02: It's not just the drivers on the road.
[02:09] SPEAKER_02: It's the great thing about the trucking industry is it's IT and it's finance and it's sales.
[02:14] SPEAKER_02: It's business development.
[02:15] SPEAKER_02: It's a big part of the economy in Canada, not just Alberta, not just here in the West.
[02:23] SPEAKER_02: It's a great industry for professional development and the thing about Canada is such a large vast country
[02:31] SPEAKER_02: and dispersed as wide as we are.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: All products at some point are going by a way of trucking and we've got our new market.
[02:42] SPEAKER_01: A couple of things about the trucking industry itself, Matthew.
[02:48] SPEAKER_01: First of all, how important has the use of technology become for that industry in the last couple of years?
[02:58] SPEAKER_02: Yeah. More so now than ever, technology is a key component to what we do.
[03:04] SPEAKER_02: It's GPS tracking for the truck.
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: It's our IT component on how we build our business and our tracking tools, our financial measuring tools, our dispatching.
[03:15] SPEAKER_02: The software and the technology and trucking is as key now as the truck's the trailers and the drivers.
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: Now speaking of drivers, how difficult is it to find drivers these days?
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: I've been hearing that for the last couple of years out in the industry.
[03:34] SPEAKER_02: It is. It's a challenging labor market, not unique to driving or trucking, but yes, it's a challenging labor market.
[03:41] SPEAKER_02: It's a demanding lifestyle. It's certainly not one that's meant for everybody.
[03:46] SPEAKER_02: Our particular type of trucking, where we go to the Arctic and we go across Western Canada and we go into isolated mines.
[03:54] SPEAKER_02: They pack up their truck at the beginning of the week.
[03:57] SPEAKER_02: They're basically by to their family. They're gone for anywhere from 60 to 70 hours.
[04:01] SPEAKER_02: They live in that truck and it takes a special kind of guy and an over person.
[04:10] SPEAKER_02: We do a very good job. It's not only the retention of those very highly skilled and sought after individuals.
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: So what do you look for in a driver?
[04:22] SPEAKER_01: Obviously beyond the license that's needed, but what are some of the key elements of that?
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: A driver that you're looking for when you're hiring or adding people?
[04:36] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're a pro and they're a pro and everything that they do.
[04:40] SPEAKER_02: They're a pro in the way they handle the truck. They're a pro in the way that they handle their paperwork, their interaction with the customer.
[04:48] SPEAKER_02: The safety and the maintenance of the vehicle.
[04:51] SPEAKER_02: We in our business because of the products that we hold, the roads that we travel.
[04:57] SPEAKER_02: In some cases, the extreme isolation that they can deal with going into the mines and into the high Arctic.
[05:06] SPEAKER_02: Internally, we sometimes say we're looking for that 1% of the 1%.
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: So when you're looking at the economy and the oil patch right now in Alberta, how would you describe what it's like?
[05:21] SPEAKER_02: I can see we're on an up cycle. There's no shortage of opportunity right now.
[05:26] SPEAKER_02: There's certainly more trucking than there is truck trucking companies and drivers right now as it relates to just the driving home to it.
[05:33] SPEAKER_02: It's an incredibly competitive market and we as an organization have to do our very best to again to be able to recruit and retain those individuals from our company.
[05:45] SPEAKER_02: The economy is strong and oil is up again and the mining sector is up again and Alberta and Canada is over feeling the benefits.
[05:59] SPEAKER_01: What's it like you're being based in Edmonton? What's it like being a business owner or business operating in Edmonton?
[06:09] SPEAKER_02: I'm from Ontario and I came to Alberta by way of Vancouver after living in Vancouver for six years.
[06:16] SPEAKER_02: Of all the places I live in worked, there's nothing like building a business in Edmonton.
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: There's something very special about working areas.
[06:24] SPEAKER_02: I would describe it this way. Nobody really cares where you're from or where you want to school or who you know or who you don't know.
[06:35] SPEAKER_02: Are you just going to come in and roll up your sleeves, work hard and build a business and that's how I describe it.
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: How would you describe the business conditions in this province for anybody that owns a company?
[06:52] SPEAKER_02: There's a great labor market. There's affordable housing. Things like we don't have PST.
[07:00] SPEAKER_02: It's a good place to build a business and it's great opportunity and cliche is aside I would say.
[07:08] SPEAKER_02: What you put in is exactly what you get.
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: You mentioned affordability. Does that help you guys in attracting people to work there?
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: Because you look at the average price of a home in Edmonton compared to the average price in Toronto or Vancouver or even some other places in Ontario like Ottawa or Hamilton.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: There's no beating what Edmonton has.
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: It certainly helps.
[07:37] SPEAKER_02: As again, we have a strong economy, very affordable housing.
[07:43] SPEAKER_02: Lots of options, a great international airport.
[07:46] SPEAKER_02: There's a lot to like about working in Edmonton and Alberta for that matter.
[07:52] SPEAKER_02: We've got Vancouver and Calgary very close by. They're great parking cities to work with.
[07:58] SPEAKER_02: In here in Edmonton, there's a lot of good companies making their head office here.
[08:06] SPEAKER_02: We partnered with them quite often.
[08:09] SPEAKER_02: Everything from Kenworth for our trucks, Canadian Western Bank for our banking.
[08:15] SPEAKER_01: We're very fortunate with the partners that we have.
[08:18] SPEAKER_01: What about Edmonton itself? What do you personally like about living there?
[08:26] SPEAKER_02: For me, I love the summers here. The Edmonton River Valley that cuts right through the city down core.
[08:33] SPEAKER_02: Downtown core is fantastic.
[08:37] SPEAKER_02: I'm a skier, so we've got world-class skiing. That is just a short little drive to get there.
[08:45] SPEAKER_02: If you're into the outdoors, whether it's the river valley, the hiking, the biking, it's a great place to live and it's a great place to work.
[08:54] SPEAKER_01: In running a business, especially these days, what do you think some of the key things are that companies need to focus on or be cognizant of to become successful?
[09:10] SPEAKER_02: In our business, it starts with being a safe company. In trucking, the safest companies are the most profitable.
[09:18] SPEAKER_02: Next, it's really interesting work. We've got really good work. It's very challenging and it brings great opportunity.
[09:28] SPEAKER_02: With that, it translates into retaining and retracting really good people.
[09:33] SPEAKER_02: Any good organization is about the people.
[09:37] SPEAKER_02: When I think we've done it right, we take problems and we take challenges.
[09:42] SPEAKER_02: We make the solutions so interesting and so dynamic that it does attract those natural leaders, those hard workers, those dedicated employees.
[09:56] SPEAKER_02: As a company, when we've done it right, they go home and they bore the neighbors to get with how much they've done their job in short-term.
[10:07] SPEAKER_01: There you go.
[10:09] SPEAKER_01: What do you think has been in the last couple of years for you and the company, the toughest challenges you've faced?
[10:22] SPEAKER_02: I would say managing growth without imploding.
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: I think it's probably the best way to do it. Those ups and downs to go from a small to medium-sized company to a large company.
[10:39] SPEAKER_02: If I can speak selfishly for a minute, we've grown pretty significantly in a short amount of time.
[10:45] SPEAKER_02: We've doubled in size in about a two-year window.
[10:49] SPEAKER_02: We've just expanded into a Ontario. We're always a Western-based carrier.
[10:54] SPEAKER_02: As you and I are talking, we are opening our facility in Ontario and doing first loads.
[11:02] SPEAKER_02: It is that idea of growing and maintaining that quality of control within your organization,
[11:11] SPEAKER_02: with your smaller company, not having it diluted or watered down as you expand your market share.
[11:18] SPEAKER_01: Now, your growth has all been natural or has it come by way of acquisitions as well?
[11:25] SPEAKER_02: No, far it's all been organic growth. We've looked at a few acquisitions.
[11:30] SPEAKER_02: We've got one in the wings that we're seriously considering.
[11:34] SPEAKER_02: But again, when I look at our people and just how hard they work, how dedicated they are, they are the ones.
[11:43] SPEAKER_02: It's their fingerprints that are all over our growth and it has. It's all come organically.
[11:49] SPEAKER_01: Interesting. How do you manage that? Obviously, it's a busy time and you're looking at growing.
[12:00] SPEAKER_01: How do you make sure that you don't kick on too much, I guess?
[12:06] SPEAKER_02: Well, we've got a good leadership group and within that circle of leadership,
[12:11] SPEAKER_02: we do a very good job at reviewing opportunity. We weigh the balance of what's to our advantage,
[12:19] SPEAKER_02: both operationally and viscally.
[12:23] SPEAKER_02: And we take a bit of a cooling off period rather than just jump right in and move quickly.
[12:29] SPEAKER_02: We take an informal cooling off period. We then come back as a group collectively caucus,
[12:34] SPEAKER_02: knock around those ideas. And as simple as it sounds, we're very good at making those pros and cons.
[12:40] SPEAKER_02: We're very fond of what's on-list and we act on the pros and we push aside the cons and move forward
[12:47] SPEAKER_02: in what serves the customer, what serves us as an organization and what serves our employees.
[12:53] SPEAKER_01: Okay. What about the trucks themselves? I'm just curious, how big are they?
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: Well, our drivers, they live in their trucks. We have very robust highway trucks.
[13:05] SPEAKER_02: They have a 76-inch bunk in them. There's inverters. There's microwaves. There's fridges.
[13:10] SPEAKER_02: What about them?
[13:12] SPEAKER_02: When they load up at the beginning of the week, they're living out of that truck for the better part of 70 hours.
[13:18] SPEAKER_02: I think as I open with quite often the minds that we service are very isolated locations.
[13:24] SPEAKER_02: These drivers, they're completely self-sufficient in that truck. They've got their fuel, they've got their clothes, they've got their water.
[13:30] SPEAKER_02: They're there, whether they're there and self-contained for hours on it and in some cases days on it.
[13:37] SPEAKER_02: So it's a full-size truck with a large bunk. Some of them have two beds. We have some drivers that work what are called teens, husband and wife combination.
[13:47] SPEAKER_02: And there's two people living out of that truck at some distance.
[13:51] SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow. Have you ever driven one?
[13:53] SPEAKER_02: I've driven one through the yard. I think that's the experts. I can move one for May to be.
[13:59] SPEAKER_02: But there's other parts of the business. I'm pretty good at that one. I lead to the experts.
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: No, Matthew, being an executive and running a business, obviously.
[14:14] SPEAKER_01: Well, I know it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort. Right? Many ways it's a 24 or 7 job.
[14:22] SPEAKER_01: What do you do to, I guess, find work-life balance that kind of buzzword and phrase that we talk about these days?
[14:31] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, personally, I do find a lot of balance in my work. I thoroughly enjoy it.
[14:38] SPEAKER_02: And so that's part of it. But the other part, I think, is anyone will say anyone that's had any degree of success, it comes with a great support network.
[14:49] SPEAKER_02: I have a wonderful life. She supports me in everything that I do.
[14:55] SPEAKER_02: She works with great family base, both here and Ontario.
[15:01] SPEAKER_02: And it is that strong family foundation that supports, that helps any business owner,
[15:10] SPEAKER_02: a broader company, and finding a balance inside of work.
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: Personally, I think I mentioned it earlier. I enjoy skiing. I have a brother-in-law who I ski with as much as I can.
[15:21] SPEAKER_02: I spend a lot of time in the River Valley. I've got a dog that I get a river valley with quite regularly.
[15:30] SPEAKER_02: But I do have to say I always circle back to family and most importantly, my wife.
[15:36] SPEAKER_02: All right. Where'd you grow up?
[15:38] SPEAKER_02: I grew up in Burlington, just west of Toronto, from southern Ontario.
[15:44] SPEAKER_02: When I'm living here in the west now, I try to keep that to myself.
[15:47] SPEAKER_02: But again, much like Edmonton, what makes it so great is a lot of people that are in Edmonton came to this part of the country to build their piece of the universe and make something special.
[16:04] SPEAKER_01: It's just been great and nice to do it.
[16:06] SPEAKER_01: What did you, when you were growing up, what did you think you were going to end up doing now?
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: The career.
[16:14] SPEAKER_02: That's a big question.
[16:16] SPEAKER_02: Well, I played a lot of football growing up and there was that small, small window where I thought maybe that would be the career path.
[16:23] SPEAKER_02: And the reality kicked in pretty quick. When I look at football, the one thing I say is that the time on the field is quite often the smallest part of what you do.
[16:35] SPEAKER_02: You spend most of practice a lot of time in the weight room and a lot of time in the film room.
[16:41] SPEAKER_02: That wasn't me. I enjoyed the game, but I wasn't one for the weight room or the film room.
[16:48] SPEAKER_02: I gravitated toward trucking and just never looked back.
[16:53] SPEAKER_02: Where did you play?
[16:55] SPEAKER_02: I played football at St. Mary's in Halibut.
[16:57] Speaker UNKNOWN: Oh, really?
[16:59] SPEAKER_01: Okay, great.
[17:01] SPEAKER_01: You could have ended up playing for the tightgats.
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you're probably going to be going out.
[17:09] SPEAKER_02: Much like the driving of our trucks, I leave that to the pros.
[17:12] SPEAKER_02: I think I'll leave football to the pros as well.
[17:14] SPEAKER_02: I think those days are long behind this part of the world.
[17:18] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[17:18] SPEAKER_01: But if over the years in business, you know,
[17:25] SPEAKER_01: from your perspective personally as a manager, as a business person,
[17:31] SPEAKER_01: where do you see your growth coming from personally?
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, we've done a lot of training, things, programs of reading books.
[17:42] SPEAKER_01: If you talk a little bit about that, where you've seen, you've grown the most.
[17:48] SPEAKER_02: Where not to take away from any of the workshops or courses or degrees,
[17:56] SPEAKER_02: whether it's on the formal side, those with their MBA or their C.A. designation,
[18:04] SPEAKER_02: where the greatest growth comes from is really strong, hardworking individuals.
[18:11] SPEAKER_02: I would put it this way, our greatest growth has come from when there's a barrier
[18:19] SPEAKER_02: put in front of us.
[18:21] SPEAKER_02: We as an organization, I think we push through when most would either give up or move on.
[18:27] SPEAKER_02: And it's that resilience to just not give up and to see the opportunity in every problem
[18:35] SPEAKER_02: that can come in front of you, really, really making sure that it's looked at as opportunity
[18:39] SPEAKER_02: and turning it into something as I say when I think others might move on.
[18:44] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
[18:46] SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you Matthew for joining us today.
[18:48] SPEAKER_01: And my pleasure, Matthew.
[18:50] SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
[18:51] SPEAKER_01: Right, that was Matthew Hallstad, who was president of Sharp Trucking Services.
[18:56] SPEAKER_01: I'm Mario Tonoguzi, managing editor of Canada's Podcast.
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: This has been Edmonton's Podcast.
[19:03] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today.