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-   -   SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12. (https://britishexpats.com/forum/trucking-118/seafood-express-loafy-chris12-488210/)

loafy Oct 19th 2007 3:19 am

SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
4 Attachment(s)
Well folks me and Chris 12 have been here at Seafood Express on Prince Edward Island Atlantic Canada for over a month now and have to say things are great and true to his word Robin Roach has been a star. Everything he has told me and others is what you get, no bull, he admits that they are not perfect all the time but do try to do their best to make life here and on the road an enjoyable experience.
They don't do all the bells and Whistles like the big firms but what you do get is a more formal relaxed feeling around the place making you feel at home from the start. You meet everyone their from Bill Keith the Boss and owner of Seafood express to the Despatchers and mechanics on a daily basis. Everyone here is friendly and genuinely pleased to see you and ask how you are doing and getting on.
You will more than likely be collected by Robin Roach at the airport who will then take you back to PEI.
On arrival at Halifax you apply for your 2 year work permit which is done within the hour and not on a PNP which you apply for at a later date.
It is best in my opinion that you get accommodation before you leave the UK which we did, Details of a very good Rental Company is available on request. We managed to secure a 2 bedroomed fully furnished apartment which is of very good spec including Electric, Hot Water,
Heating, Cable TV, and a Phone for local calls only all for $1180 a month which divided by the two of us is £295 a month. They do short rentals of six months at a time unless you require more.

This is a small company of 42 Trucks which range from the new fleet of 24 Peterbilts and a mix of Freightliners and the older stock of Volvo's which are being replaced by the Peterbilts. They change 10 trucks for new ones every year the oldest on the fleet being 3 years old.
You pay for your flight out but get that back after three months.

They mostly run down the eastern Seaboard to Delaware and back to PEI, and they do what they call the Triangle which is anything in or around that area and up to Toronto and then to Moncton and then home which is around a six day trip and the Delaware trip which should only take you around 3 1/2 days unless you catch a weekend.
They pay 32Cents a mile but considering the time that you are away on the short runs and if you take the mminimum of 36 off you could get 2 trips in 8 days. They pay a quarterly Bonus which is achievable and their is no pushing you to go out as soon as you can. Obviously you need to roll to earn the money but if it's time off you need they will accommodate The long haul trucks are for that purpose and dont slip seat those with anyone if their is a load needed to be delivered they have a fleet of local ones for that so when you get your own truck you can put what you want in and know that it will be their when you come back.

Things to do when you get here.

1. Bank Account.
2. UK car Licence change.
3. Apply for SIN Number (Takes all of ten mins )
4. Air Brake Test. ( Copy of Book Supplied by Robin )
5. Take Pre Check test and road test.

After you have a full class 1 Canadian Licence you then go out with another Seafood driver in separate trucks. No double manning here. Normally this is to guide you through Border crossings, Toll Booths, and general paperwork on the way plus orientation. This you can do until you are completely confident with the routine of things of driving OTR.

If you decide to come out to PEI and Seafood Express be prepared to bring enough money to last you for the minimum of 5 weeks and an average of 8, this is all dependant on when you can get your tests booked for both the Air Brake and Class 1 tests.
Me and Chris were both out earning 2 days after our test and we did it in just under a month.

So far things here have been great in and around the Island, everyone is friendly and helpful. As soon as they here your accent they want to talk to you but most think you are either from Australia or Ireland for some reason and Chris is a Brummie and im from Cardiff.
Bought a car and a house each with land all in this time which has not been a problem at all.
If you come accros problems your first port of call is robin who will answer if he can but if he doesn't he will find someone that does or at least a contact number were you might get help.

Robin Roach can be contacted at Seafood Express on
Tel: 001 902 892 0060
He will more than likely give you his MSN address which you can talk to him online about anything here.
Any concerns can be directed to me Loafy or Chris12 on here or direct to Robin Roach.

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/fea...kers070820.wmv

Big Truck Oct 19th 2007 9:07 am

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
Bloody hell Loafy thats a suprise!!!:blink:
From Trans-X to Yanke then H+R in the prairies and finally the other side of Canada to Sea-Food in PEI!!!!:thumbsup:
Everything sounds good apart from the 32c/mile,are you getting enough miles driving the triangle area and what is the pay for the "extra's"?:confused:
Also the fact that they only have 42 trucks yet every UK guy who applies gets a job,are there any natural Canadians driving for them on long haul at all?:confused:

loafy Oct 19th 2007 1:14 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by Big Truck (Post 5443205)
Bloody hell Loafy thats a suprise!!!:blink:
From Trans-X to Yanke then H+R in the prairies and finally the other side of Canada to Sea-Food in PEI!!!!:thumbsup:
Everything sounds good apart from the 32c/mile,are you getting enough miles driving the triangle area and what is the pay for the "extra's"?:confused:
Also the fact that they only have 42 trucks yet every UK guy who applies gets a job,are there any natural Canadians driving for them on long haul at all?:confused:

Well i did my research and decided that this was the place for me after a long troll (no pun intended LOL ) across Canada as you point out.
The 32 cents a mile is ok as the cost of houses and land is at least three times less than over in the West. You can earn the money if you want to work hard or just do the smaller runs and still live very well from that.
They have loads of work here and have just secured a new contract of 770 loads a year on top of what they have already.
Not every UK driver gets a job here some are just plain rubbish and dont deserve one. There are more Canadian drivers here than UK and European ones as you are not away for that long so they dont mind doing the longer stuff. I cant give you specifics on what the actual money is yet as we have only just started earning but will keep you informed as time goes by.
This is actually a good place for you to come out to as you would not be away from the wife and kids to long and still get time to spend at home.
One UK driver just does the frozen cargo down to Delaware and Bananas back in three half days and then has three half days off normally every trip and says he can live off that no problem. He and his family are well settled here and want for nothing.
On most weekends we congregate at one persons house or another to have a few and mull things over, on the whole thou everyone is very pleased with the way things are going.
I have to say that most of this is possible because of Robin Roach from my experience so far, He is a hands on guy and enjoys doing his job and helping out where possible, i dont think this would be the case in other companies as they are mostly to big to accommodate that.

Ok just to clarify things here wages wise.
You actually get 33cents a mile which is based on an average of 130,000 miles per year.
Earnings Potential.
Bonus mileage of 2 1/2 cents per mile up to a possible $3250.00 per year. This is paid quarterly on safety, Drivers attitude, Completed driver logs,Etc.
Statutory holiday pay of $110.00 per day for 9 statutory holidays to equal a maximum of $990.00 per year. This starts after the initial three month probation period.
Four percent of your gross pay from 12 months will be paid to you as vacation pay. This is an average of $1716.00 per year.
Based on what info i have and how hard you want to work you should earn in the region of if not more than $46150.00 and does not include holiday or vacation pay.
After one year and based on safety bonus record their is a pay raise of one percent a mile which is achievable.

All the best to you and yours,

LOAFY...:thumbsup:

deannos Oct 19th 2007 3:34 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
Great to hear you are doing well Loafy.I had an idea you were at Seafood as i see Jason from your old Ponty depot every night.I run out of aftersales on the Bovey change over.I was originally looking at PEI but then change to Moose jaw area but your post has changed my mind.The area looks very family "friendly".WE also wanted to be near the coast,but doesn't the temperature drop quite allot around there.Not worried about the snow,well at least my 4 kids don't.I know the housing is quite cheap but would a family of 6 survive on $46000,bearing in mind we like the basics as such;).Any other info you have would be great.:thumbsup:


Dean

(soon to be a Norbetts driver:blink:)

loafy Oct 19th 2007 3:57 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by deannos (Post 5444257)
Great to hear you are doing well Loafy.I had an idea you were at Seafood as i see Jason from your old Ponty depot every night.I run out of aftersales on the Bovey change over.I was originally looking at PEI but then change to Moose jaw area but your post has changed my mind.The area looks very family "friendly".WE also wanted to be near the coast,but doesn't the temperature drop quite allot around there.Not worried about the snow,well at least my 4 kids don't.I know the housing is quite cheap but would a family of 6 survive on $46000,bearing in mind we like the basics as such;).Any other info you have would be great.:thumbsup:


Dean

(soon to be a Norbetts driver:blink:)

Hi deanos,
Well all i can say is give Robin a call and then chat to him online on MSN, he will give you his addy.
Yeah it gets cold here but no different to the rest of Canada and at this moment its still shining bright in the sky like a summers day and has been for most of the time we have been here. Houses range from a years salary back home to 200.000 plus but they are huge with loads of land.
Living out of town you will definitely get what you are looking for at the right price.
Most i have spoke to spend about $75 to $100 a week on shopping but they do what they call the saturday morning flyers were they sell bulk stuff cheap. I guess you might be spending a bit more than that as there is 6 of you.
You can get cheap good cars here, most have high mileage but they only go in a straight line most of the time and not much more than 90 to a 110 kmh,
This place is the dogs but i expect if i was somewhere else i might say the same but it really is a good place to live, park your car leave the doors undone, leave your house undone, just a real friendly place to live all in all. I guess that could change over the years but i think it will be a long time before that happens.
All the best,

LOAFY...:thumbsup:

lilacheart Oct 19th 2007 8:08 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
Well hello finally xxxxxxxxxx

lilacheart Oct 19th 2007 8:08 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
Nice to see your post, have been looking out for it.

You have finally confessed.

Behave yourself tomorrow with my hubby and we will have a few drinks at ours soon.

Can I have your autograph now, I think you became quite a celebrity with your disappearing act

Kerry.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

RodRos&Co. Oct 19th 2007 8:29 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
nice 1 Loafy and Chris, the maritimes are beautiful we can't wait to be there:thumbup:

Take care and good luck with everything

CurtNIR Oct 19th 2007 8:51 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
I looked into them a while ago, but read they require 10 years experience? So I automatically had to dismiss them.

Would this be correct ?

chris12 Oct 19th 2007 9:08 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 
Hi curtnir.

The answer to your question is NO, you don't need ten years ex. But one thing i will say when you talk to Robin! do not under any circumstances feed him bull, because if you get here and his anti bull s==t radar clocks you, you'll be back on the plane quicker than you got off it. All he akes is a couple of years experience i think. Call him he will tell you himself.
Keep up the good reading.

Chris12.

chris12 Oct 19th 2007 9:12 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by kerlynkeo (Post 5445102)
Nice to see your post, have been looking out for it.

You have finally confessed.

Behave yourself tomorrow with my hubby and we will have a few drinks at ours soon.

Can I have your autograph now, I think you became quite a celebrity with your disappearing act

Kerry.

xxxxxxxxxxxx


Don't wory kerry. we'll look after him and make sure he's tucked up in bed at night:thumbsup::rofl:

Send me your email addy will ya.

Chris12. xx

loafy Oct 19th 2007 9:23 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by kerlynkeo (Post 5445102)
Nice to see your post, have been looking out for it.

You have finally confessed.

Behave yourself tomorrow with my hubby and we will have a few drinks at ours soon.

Can I have your autograph now, I think you became quite a celebrity with your disappearing act

Kerry.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Ah no prob Kerry we will show him how it's done LOL :rofl::rofl:
Thanks for the status you can have me anytime :eek:

LOAFY...xxxx...

loafy Oct 19th 2007 9:26 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by RodRos&Co. (Post 5445158)
nice 1 Loafy and Chris, the maritimes are beautiful we can't wait to be there:thumbup:

Take care and good luck with everything

Thanks for the luck, you will love this place it's just beauiful, rolling hills sea all around just great scenery full stop.

YEAH NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT:thumbsup:

LOAFY...:thumbsup:

RodRos&Co. Oct 19th 2007 9:57 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by loafy (Post 5445340)
Thanks for the luck, you will love this place it's just beauiful, rolling hills sea all around just great scenery full stop.

YEAH NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT:thumbsup:

LOAFY...:thumbsup:

So when do you get the new bike:p

loafy Oct 19th 2007 10:01 pm

Re: SEAFOOD EXPRESS... By LOAFY & CHRIS12.
 

Originally Posted by RodRos&Co. (Post 5445425)
So when do you get the new bike:p

Ah who knows when, tricky one that not sure if i will or not be a while i think thou.

LOAFY...:thumbsup:


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