Lloydminster – “We’re getting really busy,” said Greg Schwenk, owner of G Force Diesel in Lloydminster and Estevan, on Aug. 24.
“It’s getting good again, after two and a half years,” he added.
The heavy truck shop has started hiring people again, particularly in Lloydminster, where they now have 24 people. In Estevan it’s still pretty slow, with just one person there. The 24 is up from 19 six months ago, which had been their lowest point since 2009, the last slowdown.
“We’ve been lucky. We’ve picked up where there’s been a couple similar businesses actually shut down,” Schwenk said. “In Lloyd as a whole, you’re seeing it pick up. There’s a lot more traffic in town, more trucks moving. The stores seem a little bit busier. Baby steps.”
The company is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. They held a celebration on Aug. 29. “We’re back close to max capacity for employees,” he said.
“I started by myself with a mobile truck 20 years ago.”
About 10 months in, he decided to rent a couple bays to set up a safety inspection station and hire a few employees. “It’s been gaining ever since.”
G Force built its own shop in 2003, and it has expanded a couple times since then. They now have 20 bays and 25,000 square feet at their shop on Highway 16 east, Lloydminster. In 2009, realizing there wasn’t much in the way of independent repair shops in Estevan, he set up a shop there, too, and in a few years bought his own building.
Fabricating shows optimism
These days, their fabricating operation is a good indication of optimism in the industry, according to Schwenk.
“On our fabricating side, it’s a good chunk of our business, 30 per cent. We’re rigging up new trucks right now.”
Their fabrication department takes new stock trucks from the dealership and gets them ready for the oilfield. This may mean installing pumps or custom decking. They work with aluminum, steel and stainless steel.
“It really is a one stop heavy truck stop,” Schwenk said.
He noted that with oil in the mid-$40s, he’s not sure why they’re busy, but it’s nice.
The trucks are being rigged up to haul crude, water, fuel and gravel. “We’re doing three or four a week, constantly, for the past few months.”
“People learn to live within their means, maybe? This is their reality check?
“You can almost base the level of optimism in the oilfield by our fabricating department,” Schwenk said. “When things are starting to slow down, all of a sudden the rigging up of fluid haulers dies. It just drops right off. When things start to pick up, boom, we’re hiring more welders again. We’re rigging up trucks to keep up with demand, and we still are, to this day. For the last 10 months, since October, it’s been climbing every month. I’ve hired more parts people, more welders.”
“The service side is what carried us through. That’s what I started with – tractor trailer service. Everything from oil changes to in frames. That’s what kept us surviving the last two and a half, three years. It’s kind of consistent. A new truck, old truck, still has to be serviced and any major problems dealt with.
“Guys are optimistic, they’re going to trade in an old truck that’s causing problems and get a new one, live within their means with a payment plan, and keep going with a new truck,” he said.
Husky’s pipeline break and spill at the North Saskatchewan River north of Maidstone in July, 2016 has had an impact. That pipeline is still not back into service. As a result, Husky needed a fleet of trucks to take the place of the pipeline. Schwenk said there was instantly a need for 90 to 100 trucks to haul oil, and that had a direct impact on his customers. He expects the pipeline to be repaired soon. If those trucks are no longer needed, he thinks it will make a huge difference in Lloydminster.
