Bangor’s trucking business, Hartt Transportation, was sold to a Canadian company, marking the end of 73 years of local ownership of the company.
Bison Transport, a Winnipeg, Manitoba-based trucking company, a subsidiary of the Canadian company James Richardson & Sons, Limited, announced Monday that it had acquired 100 percent of Hartt Transportation, effective December 31, 2021. Financial details of the transaction were not made public.
This is the latest example of a domestic buyer acquiring a family business in the Bangor area as the US economy experiences significant consolidation, especially in more mature industries.
Former Hartt owner Billy Hartt, who took over from his father, company founder Delmont Hartt, in 1996, has said he expects Bison to keep Hartt’s current employees.
“I am delighted that my employees are part of the Bison family as we share similar core values and cultures,” said Richardson. “I’m sure that with the merger of the Hartt and Bison teams they will deliver amazing results and become an even stronger transporter going forward.
Bison Transport chairman Rob Penner said the Hartt acquisition would transform the company into a leading US national fleet and strengthen the company’s cross-border offerings.
Hartt Transportation, founded in Etna in 1948 and based there for over 30 years until it moved to Bangor in 1981, previously served a client base almost entirely made up of paper industry customers. However, with the decline of Maine’s paper industry, over the past two decades, the company has seen much of its business shift from Bangor to Auburn, as well as its terminal in South Carolina. Today it is an important vector for Polish spring water.
Although the Bangor region has a long history with the trucking industry, total employment in trucking companies – including drivers, maintenance staff, dispatchers and others – in Penobscot County has fallen. more than 29% between 2007 and 2016, going from 1,245 to 1,245.
Total industry output in the Bangor region declined by more than 17% between 2007 and 2014, from $ 128 million to $ 106 million, according to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, which adjusted figures based on inflation.
Bison Transport, founded in 1969 and purchased by James Richardson and Sons in 2019, employs more than 3,700 drivers and employees, who operate in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It is unclear whether Bison will keep Hartt’s terminals in Bangor and Auburn, or whether Hartt’s fleet will retain the Hartt brand, although Bison Transport chairman Marc Wolding has said the company will welcome all Hartt employees. .
