Torstar buying ShipperBee’s delivery division

Purchase will expand footprint of Metroland Parcel Services in GTA

Torstar’s move into the parcel delivery business is expanding.

Metroland Parcel Services, a division of Torstar, announced Monday that it is buying the parcel delivery business of ShipperBee, a Guelph-based logistics company.

“Our purchase of ShipperBee’s parcel business significantly expands our footprint in the GTA and surrounding communities,” said Paul Rivett, chair and co-owner of Torstar Corporation, the company that owns the Peterborough Examiner.

“Additional scale will help us to improve our industry-leading service level commitments and support retailers’ needs to move their products efficiently and professionally to the households we already serve using our existing infrastructure,” Rivett added.

“Torstar/Metroland has a perfect geographic footprint to take on the ShipperBee customers. We are confident our shipping customers will be in good hands,” said Jim Estill, CEO of ShipperBee.

ShipperBee will keep all its intellectual property, its parcel transfer mailbox network, as well as staff to continue developing their shipping software.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Metroland Parcel Services, which began as the logistics and delivery arm of Torstar’s regional newspaper division Metroland, delivered its first parcels in November, for retailer Toys “R” Us.

The company offers next day delivery, as well as its standard two-to-three day delivery service, real-time parcel tracking, delivery guarantees and photo delivery confirmation.

The parcel delivery business in Ontario is worth an estimated $4.5 billion per year.

Torstar, a wholly owned subsidiary of NordStar Capital, owns the Toronto Star, the Examiner, five other regional dailies and 70 regional weekly newspapers across Ontario.