Canada


BITUMEN AGAINST WINDS
AND TIDES
On this October morning, work is in full swing at the McAsphalt terminal in Oshawa, an industrial town on the bank of Lake Ontario. Founded in 1970 by Leo McArthur and John Carrick, McAsphalt is the largest supplier of bitumen, modified bitumen, and bitumen emulsions in Canada. Since acquiring the group in February 2018, Colas has owned 28 bitumen terminals spread across the country, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, along with two barges and 200 freight cars for bitumen transport.
Looming over the dock here in Oshawa is one of the barges, the John J. Carrick, 122 meters long and with a payload capacity of 11,500 tons. On board, Captain Mark Broennle is savoring the calm on this little inland sea, since when the wind comes up and the water gets rough and the temperature plunges below freezing, sailing on the Great Lakes can be a tough job. “Being a captain is like managing a little company... except it’s one that moves,” he smiles. “You have to be tactful and know how to work under pressure by adapting each day to the weather conditions, which can slow the barge down and delay our deliveries.” From his wheelhouse, he choreographs the ballet of operations that must be performed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for six consecutive weeks, by the 15 members of the crew. When the barge docks, the pace is intense. Today, the men have eight hours to pump all the raw material to the plant, where the onshore team takes over. All the while, there are two imperatives: comply with safety standards and respect the environment.


THE RIGHT FORMULA
What makes McAsphalt special and explains its success is their development of products tailored to its customers’ orders. “We prepare different formulations every day. We have more than 200 of them,” says Niels Schonberg, a terminal installations manager. At the peak of the fall season, when the weather conditions are still good for road construction, as many as 40 employees can be working at the site, which operates around the clock, seven days a week. This afternoon, the team in the packaging unit is carefully pouring a crack-patching product that is still hot as it comes out of the pipes into plastic containers, which are then bundled and loaded onto a truck. “The emulsion product is not stored here,” notes McAsphalt production manager Jeff Haynes “When it is ready, it is sent directly to the customer.” Flexibility, innovation, and the ability to anticipate customers’ needs are the values of this company, which its employees are proud to work for.

Colas North America
ON THE ROADS
WITH MILLER
In 1976, McAsphalt acquired Miller, a road construction company founded in 1917. This vertically integrated company uses McAsphalt products to build and upgrade roads and bridges throughout Canada as well as at Atlanta, Georgia, in the southeastern United States. Miller is working on numerous projects in Ontario, the Canadian province with the fastest-growing economy and with increasing infrastructure needs, particularly around Toronto, the fourth-largest city in North America. In 2017, Miller was awarded the contract for the 6.6-kilometer extension of Highway 427 as well as for the widening of 4.4 kilometers of lanes near the city’s international airport. Road-widening work is being done elsewhere too, such as on Highway 404, in the north, while new surfacing is being put down on Highway 407.
“In all the projects, we make sure to respect our three main values: integrity, quality, and safety,”says Rob Rodgers, a manager in the Highway 407 project. In Ontario, one third of the road network is in need of repair. The roads suffer from the repeated freezing and thawing and deteriorate twice as fast as in temperate climates. On Highway 401, the busiest road in North America, one team is renovating a section to the west, while another is working on a bridge to the east. It is three in the afternoon, and heavy traffic is streaming past just a few meters from the men, who are also coping with the fickle weather. “To gain time before the winter period, when it’s impossible to work, and to minimize the impact on traffic, we also work at night,” points out Sebastian Arangio, the project coordinator on the eastern section of Highway 401.

SYNERGY
AND MATCHING CAPABILITIES
“We have already met with engineers from Colas Canada and talked with each other about our methods,” says Haynes with approval. To integrate Miller and McAsphalt in Colas Canada, the companies are exchanging best practices in numerous areas, including health, safety, and know-how. Over the next two years, new management systems will be introduced while respecting the cultures and brands of each company. Miller, McAsphalt and Colas Canada resemble one another, are complementary, and share the same values, all important factors in achieving their successful integration.

THREE questions to...

is the integration
of Miller and McAsphalt into Colas going?
to share competencies?
the biggest
challenge in this integration?
CONSTRUCTION SITE UPDATE

of Colas Canada
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Territories
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Columbia
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Road construction
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- Bitumen & emulsion
- Construction materials
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- Bitumen & emulsion
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- Bitumen & emulsion
Construction, which becomes
Miller Paving in 1946.
in Canada.
McAsphalt.
by McAsphalt.
the acquisition of the Miller McAsphalt Group
by Colas.
post-acquisition