Talkin' Trucks With Mike:A History of the TNT Companies

Now I'm wondering if that AC/DC song had another meaning.

See me ride out of the sunset
On your colour TV screen
Out for all that I can get
If you know what I mean​

 

Trojan, a TNT's trademark which tell everything.

An interesting story was hidden behind that name. Dating back from 1972 just few months before the takeover by TNT, Overland Express was not able to convince the Union to give up the rule which constrained long haul highway drivers not making deliveries to customers even if they have a full truckload for the customer.The inflexible rule was that a city driver had to make the delivery after the load arrived to the terminal. Cam Carruth, the guy on the following publicity board :



then, President of Overland decided to bypass the rule registering a new company named Trojan Freight Lines for this was going to be his Trojan horse to be used against the Union. Engaging non-union owner-operator drivers, he instituted the arrangements he wanted within the new company and then allowed the original subsidiaty to waste away until it was little more than an empty shell. After the takeover of Overland by TNT, this guy, Cam Carruth became successively head of Alltrans Group Canada (1970-1984), TNT North-America Land Transportation (1985-1991), and TNT Freightways later USFreightways from 1992 to his retirement in 2000.


Over the years, Trojan became an autonomous division of TNT Canada and the shared foundation of other operations including :

air freight trucking (Tro Air)



flatbed trucking and heavy machinery hauling



and local cartage and contract carriage

 

And yet Trojan was the result of TNT procreating.

 

The division was a shared user network offering consolidation and distribution services mainly
to the retail sector (95% of the business) in specific markets which include Chicago/Milwaukee, New-York/New-Jersey, Denver and Los Angeles. 55% of its activity was distribution to specialty retailers, 35%was origin/vendor consolidation and 10% involved crossdocking activity for warehouse formats. If you look at the TNT North America organisation chart on page 18
of the Forum, the division was part of TNT Logistics Corp.

 

Yes, TNT was an incubator with an endless activity. So then, Trojan Freight Lines became a
TNT Canada sub Group in early 80's overseing the already mentioned divisions and the original truckload entity was renamed Trojan Uniline as you can see on the previous publicity board. In 1987 the division got a second new identity namely TNT Uniline.

During the same period in early 80's, as the rule has changed at Overland and Trojan Freight Lines being not anymore part of Overland, the division entered again in the truckload market setting up a new division named Truckload Canada which will trade as TNT Truckload Services later in the decade.

 

Sorry Mike2633 but the photo was taken in Montréal during the summer 1997.