Commercial Heavy Equipment Training (CHET) has expanded to the west of Toronto, opening the first truck driver training facility in Burlington, Ont.
CHET, a subsidiary of Musket Transport, has been operating out of Mississauga, Ont., since 1997.
The Burlington campus in the Halton Region west of the Greater Toronto Area sits in Musket’s premises which house its refrigerator division, providing training for drivers in a busy working environment.
Sophia Sniegowski Begidzhanov, Musket Transport’s corporate communication officer, said it is the first time the company has expanded into a new area. “It opens the surrounding areas where there’s a lot of target demographics for us that we want to provide training for,” she said. “That’s youth, Indigenous communities, veterans and women.”
The facility includes advanced simulators, projectors, dedicated training yards, and modern classrooms.
Sophia Sniegowski Begidzhanov, Musket Transport’s corporate communication officer, said it is the first time the company has expanded into a new area. “It opens the surrounding areas where there’s a lot of target demographics for us that we want to provide training for,” she said. “That’s youth, Indigenous communities, veterans and women.”
The facility includes advanced simulators, projectors, dedicated training yards, and modern classrooms.
Andy Balij, president and CEO of Musket Transport, noted a lot of commercial trucking has shifted and more will shift to the west of Toronto. “It puts us in a geographic area that is advantageous,” he said.
He added that CHET provides Musket with the pick of the crop of well-trained drivers and the benefit of the first right of refusal.
Specialized training
Besides training new drivers, the facility also provides specialized training on tanker trailers, B-train chassis, and Rocky Mountain doubles – a combination vehicle consisting of a tractor, a 45- to 48-foot trailer and a shorter 28-foot trailer.
Sniegowski Begidzhanov said corporate training services for other fleets are also being offered. CHET also conducts pre-employment road tests for drivers.
Sandra Graham, CHET’s operations manager, said she’ll start out with three or four instructors and soon intends to employ eight to nine trainers at the new facility. Training will be provided on 10 trucks with manual and automatic transmissions and loaded trailers.
The facility includes advanced simulators, projectors, dedicated training yards, and modern classrooms.