Arcola鈥� R. French Transport has done something not heard of very often for the past two years.
鈥淲e bought four new trucks,鈥� said Ralph French, who runs the business with his wife Colleen. 鈥淲e just got them on the road here. Last week we got the last one rigged up and going.鈥�
聽鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to ramp for it to hopefully turn around.
鈥淥ne of our biggest hurdles, right now, is manpower, which I鈥檓 sure you hear from a lot of people. We鈥檙e steadily having ads out, looking for men. Any of the other companies or services I鈥檝e talked to, they鈥檙e feeling the same thing. Since things have picked up, the drilling rigs are going again, the service rigs; everybody is looking for manpower.鈥�
Compared to the peak of the boom, R. French Transport had reduced its staff about 60 per cent. 鈥淲e had a lot in Manitoba that have gone back. Since the slowdown, rates have been lower. In turn, the wages are lower. So people aren鈥檛 willing to travel far away from home for wages they can make at home, being home every night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to attract good employment when you can鈥檛 offer them more than what they can sustain at home. We have a camp in our yard and everything. Free room, but not board, to try to attract employees,鈥� Ralph said.
Colleen said they have 24 on payroll now. 鈥淲e had a lot of lease operators. Counting lease operators, we were closer to 50-55,鈥� she said at peak.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying to stay with our own trucks and employees. We just brought on a few (lease operators) because we鈥檝e started fracking again.鈥�
It鈥檚 been over a year that R. French Transport鈥檚 fracking operations have been idle. They have a frac water heating facility near Kisbey, with multiple frac tanks there.
They鈥檙e hauling heated fresh water again from Kisbey facility. 鈥淲e sell and heat water out of there,鈥� Ralph said.
The facility has been around for three years now, but was dormant last year until early January 2017.
鈥淩alph worked on that pretty hard for a while,鈥� Colleen said.
The facility has five water tanks and an additional frac tanks on site. The rest of their frac tank rental fleet is out with a client, a welcome development. That fleet is enough to support two frac spreads.
鈥淔or the last year, we haven鈥檛 done any fracs until now,鈥� Ralph said, 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e been doing a lot of service water work.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e still transferring oil and salt water,鈥� Ralph said.
Asked how many people they could put to work, if they could hire them, Ralph said, 鈥淭oday, if I had another eight drivers鈥︹��
鈥淲e鈥檝e got trucks sitting with no drivers in them. We鈥檙e turning down work,鈥� Colleen added.
鈥淲e鈥檝e turned down more work since Dec. 1 than I think we ever have, in our whole time being in business, only because we couldn鈥檛 supply the men,鈥� Ralph said.
鈥淥ur motto is to 鈥楴ever say no,鈥� but we got to the point where we just had to, because we didn鈥檛 have the manpower to stay ahead. We鈥檝e got our commitments that we have to look after. Anything extra is a bonus, and you always want to take those bonus jobs, but it got to the point where we had to start saying, 鈥楴o,鈥� which is unfortunate.
鈥淲e鈥檝e noticed an increase in activity, for sure.鈥�
The rates they can charge have not yet rebounded. 鈥淲hen the crunch came, we were asked by pretty well all oil companies to give our rock bottom (rate) so we could all continue to work, and we鈥檙e pretty well still there.鈥�
鈥淗opefully the oil presses will stabilize, and people will be more confident in what will happen. Hopefully, in turn, we鈥檒l see some rate increases and some renegotiations so we can all carry on,鈥� Ralph said.
Spring break-up is usually when that sort of things happen and some contracts come due.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going anywhere, put it that way. Our company is here to stay. We鈥檙e hoping that we can start to show a little profit, which we haven鈥檛 for the last couple years. We鈥檝e been looking after our core guys.鈥�
