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Bison Testimonial

Giving Back

Bison Transport supports many organizations, some of which include:

  • Alzheimer Society
  • Athletes in Action
  • Business Council - Aboriginal Education
  • Christmas Cheer Board
  • DASCH (Direct Action Supported Community Homes)
  • Ducks Unlimited
  • Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
  • International Development Enterprises (IDEA)
  • Lupus Canada
  • Nature Conservancy of Canada
  • Operation Red Nose
  • Providence College & Seminary
  • Pulford Community
  • Rehabilitation Centre For Children Foundation
  • Samaritan's Purse (Operation Christmas Child)
  • The Association Community Living
  • The Canadian Association of Food Banks
  • The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
  • The Canadian Cancer Society
  • The Children's Wish Foundation
  • The Fort Whyte Centre
  • The LifeWorks Program
  • The Manitoba Cancer Foundation
  • The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
  • The Manitoba Opera
  • The Royal Winnipeg Ballet
  • The Sunshine Fund
  • The Special Olympics
  • The University of Manitoba
  • The United Way
  • The Winnipeg Blue Bombers
  • The Strathcona Mounted Troop
  • Winnipeg MCC Festival & Relief Sale
  • Yes! Winnipeg

History of Bison Transport

More Than Just Humble Beginnings
The transport company modesty built celebrates 40 years

Like its namesake, Bison Transport is best characterized as the strong steady type. Modest - but not to a fault - and incredibly capable. Strong and steady: it's as much a personal philosophy as it is a business model, and it has worked for Bison for 40 years.

Duncan M. Jessiman, Chairman and founder of Bison Transport Inc.

Duncan M. Jessiman, founder of Bison Transport Inc., looks back fondly on his commitment to the transportation industry. "Trucking isn't an easy business but it's a wonderful way to make a living. It gets in your blood," he says. "Trucking is both a labour-intensive and capital-intensive business - a real business where we do real things. If I wasn't doing this, I wouldn't know what I would do instead."

His quiet passion for the industry, and for respecting his employees, suppliers and customers, has stood Bison Transport in extremely good stead over four decades in business.

New world, new life, new business

The family and the family businesses began with a shipboard romance. The Scottish immigrant parents of Duncan met on board a ship on the way to Canada. Shortly after that, they began a new life in the new world, settling in Winnipeg where they raised a family of 6.

His father (Peter) ran a local cartage and warehouse operation in Winnipeg that became Jessiman Brothers Cartage Limited. It truly was a family operation and Duncan quickly became familiar with the industry. After graduating from the University of Manitoba, Duncan followed his own entrepreneurial spirit by starting a transport company of his own in 1969 initially focusing on the hauling of construction related products.

If the name fits...

When it came time to choose a name for the company, Duncan's brother Bill suggested Bison. Symbolizing pioneering spirit, the bison is also a very social animal, is extremely resourceful and is determined in pursuit of its goals. The hardy bison which was also symbolic to Manitoba's heritage seemed the perfect fit.

Through the '70s - keep on truckin' indeed!

In 1970, Bison made a major strategic move into the general freight business by purchasing R.C. Owen Transport, the largest hauler of paper for newsprint. This opened the door to a contract with Abitibi Consolidated paper mill in Pine Falls, Manitoba.

During the same period Bison inked a deal with Eaton's and got into transporting merchandise from their catalogue orders. By the time Eaton's shut down their catalogue operations 1976, Bison had become an expert in this area and took up the gauntlet when Sears came calling.

Bison Courier Service

Also, it was during this period that Bison expanded into the courier market by opening a subsidiary named Letter Lassie. Duncan's sister-in-law Audrey Fogg, ran the company that was recognized for its innovation. The timing was perfect and appealed to women who were now entering the business world in earnest. Letter Lassie's all-female team of drivers delivered courier packages throughout Winnipeg. Letter Lassie later began operating under the name Bison Courier.

Overhauling the industry in the '80s & 90's

Big changes hit the trucking industry in the late 1980s with deregulation of the Canadian trucking industry. "Deregulation meant that everyone had to compete with everybody else," said Duncan. Deregulation also opened the door to market access on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.

The unfettered market caused great turmoil among many Canadian fleets, but Duncan viewed deregulation as an exceptional opportunity for growth.

In 1990, Duncan's son Peter joined Bison. His flair for business development served the company well. Duncan credits Peter and his team with being instrumental in the company's growth. According to Duncan, "Peter got us into the post-consumer scrap paper market, which proved to be an exceptional opportunity for Bison at that time."

Bison began servicing paper mills across most of Canada, from Vancouver Island through Quebec and worked hard to service the growth of an upstart retail juggernaut known as Wal-Mart.

As the company moved into the next decade, they expanded to offer full-service logistics, dedicated fleet operations, yard management and a warehouse and distribution network.

The small company with heart was poised to embrace change. In 1991, the 18-truck fleet with 32 employees launched an aggressive growth strategy to establish a foundation that would transform Bison Transport into one of the largest truckload carriers in the country.

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History Timeline

  • 1969 - Bison is founded by the Jessiman family
  • 1970s - Significant growth sees Bison move from early roots hauling for the construction industry to become a general goods carrier (particularly paper)
  • 1981 - Transporting newsprint from Manitoba to U.S. destinations begins
  • 1991 - An aggressive growth strategy from its base of 18 trucks is launched
  • 1996 - Old Sherwin Williams warehouse on Winnipeg's Sherwin Road is purchased and eventually becomes Bison's Head Office
  • 1996 - Bison Warehousing, a storage and distribution service in Winnipeg, Manitoba begins
  • 1998 - Named as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Businesses and will become a Platinum Club Member
  • 2000 - Eastern Operations Center opens in Mississauga, Ontario
  • 2001 - Bison ABL (Asset Based Logistics), which provides extra capacity to Bison Transport clients through strategic alliances with partner carriers is launched
  • 2003 - Winnipeg opens, including North American operations centre and Tatonka skills development center
  • 2004 - Approved under the Customs Self Assessment (CSA) and Free and Secure Trade (FAST) programs, and becomes certified participant in the Partners in Protection (PIP) and Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) programs
  • 2004 - Refrigerated Division is established
  • 2004 - Receives National Energy Efficiency Award
  • 2004 - Launch of Long Combination Vehicle Division
  • 2005 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, Third Place, 50 - 99 Million Miles Category and the Grand Prize Award, Over 25 Million Miles Annually.
  • 2006 - Launch of Intermodal Division
  • 2006 - Completes construction on new Calgary, Alberta Transportation Terminal on 31-acre lot
  • 2006 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category and the Grand Prize Award, Over 25 Million Miles Annually
  • 2007 - Receives Meridian IQ/SCL Award for Innovation
  • 2007 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category and the Grand Prize Award, Over 25 Million Miles Annually. First fleet to take Grand Prize for 3 consecutive years
  • 2008 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category
  • 2009 - Bison Transport celebrates 40th Anniversary on May 28th
  • 2009 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category
  • 2010 - Recognized by Walmart as a leader in transportation sustainability in Canada with the Innovation Carrier of the Year award.
  • 2010 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category and the Grand Prize Award, Over 25 Million Miles Annually. Four time Grand Prize winner.
  • 2011 - Truckload Carriers Association National Fleet Safety Award, First Place, 100+ Million Miles Category and the Grand Prize Award, Over 25 Million Miles Annually. Five time Grand Prize winner. No other fleet has achieved this level of success in the 36 year history of the awards.
  • 2011 - Bison Transport establishes a U.S. presence with the planned acquisition of Britton Transport (Grand Forks, ND)
  • 2011 - Bison Warehouse becomes a Customs Bonded facility
  • 2011 - American Trucking Associations Truck Safety Contest, First Place, Line-Haul/Over 100 Million Miles.
  • 2011 - British Columbia Operations moves terminal location from Delta to Langley

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