Purolator Inc. is a Canadian

courier A courier is a person or organization that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

majority owned by

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...

. It was founded as Trans Canada Couriers, Ltd and acquired in 1967 by Purolator, a US manufacturer of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and

air filter A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous, or porous materials which removes particulates such as smoke, dust, pollen, mold, viruses and bacteria from the air. Filters containing an adsorbent or catalyst such as charcoal (carbo ...

s. In 1987, the company returned to Canadian ownership. Although it retained the Purolator name, it has had no connection with the oil filter business since that time.

History

Purolator began in the 1960s, initially called Trans Canada Couriers, Ltd. with two employees as a subsidiary of American Courier Corporation. In 1967, ACC was bought out by Purolator Filters, who made automotive oil filtration systems (hence the name "Pure-oil-later" = "Pur-o-lator"). By 1970, it operated 84 vehicles. The courier company was later renamed Purolator. In 1987, it was sold by Purolator Filters to Canadian owners but retained the Purolator name. In 1987 Purolator partnered with

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

's predecessor (Airborne Express) to better serve the American market which continued until 2008. In 1993, Canada Post became the majority shareholder and now owns 91% of the business with 7% owned by Rainmaker Investments Ltd. and 2% by others. Purolator opened its first fully automated sortation hub in Ontario in 2022.

Operations

Purolator delivered over 25 million packages in 2018 and in 2019 operated 170 terminals in Canada and an additional 30 in the US. Purolator partners with UPS for deliveries outside Canada. Cargojet operates

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the trijet Boeing 727, 727, received its first orders in August 1978. The ...

and

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

aircraft for Purolator. As of April 29, 2024 had over 5,000 reviews at Trusted Reviews with an average review of 1.1 out of five.

Unicell Quicksider

On September 24, 2007, Purolator Inc. introduced the Unicell Quicksider, a prototype full-electric, lightweight urban delivery vehicle, developed by a consortium led by Toronto-based Unicell Limited with ArvinMeritor, Electrovaya, the Transportation Development Centre of

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

, and others.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.purolator.com/
Purolator Freight website
Canada Post Express mail Logistics companies of Canada Transport companies established in 1960 1960 establishments in Canada Companies based in Mississauga Joint ventures