New Transcon Network to Print 'Globe and Mail' for 18 Years

By: E&P Staff The Globe and Mail, headquartered in Toronto, has signed an 18-year contract with Transcontinental Inc. to print the newspaper in all regions except Canada's prairies, with color on every page.

Following an 18-month process that drew competitive bids from printers all over Canada, the contract, valued at $1.7 billion (Canadian), takes effect in 2010, upon expiration of current printing contracts with Transcontinental.

Transcontinental will print the newspaper in Halifax, the Montreal area, the Toronto area, Calgary, and Vancouver, and it will establish a new Toronto-area plant specifically to print the Globe and Mail.

In 2009 and 2010, Transcontinental will invest approximately C$200 million in new plant and equipment to create what it calls the first Canadian network to integrate printing of newspapers and advertising circulars, enabling it to print the full-color newspaper and materials for Transcontinental's retail customers.

The prairie-region contract, for copies distributed in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and parts of Northern Ontario and Alberta, will be awarded separately.

Transcontinental now manages Globe and Mail printing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Boucherville, Quebec (near Montreal), and Mississauga, Ontario (near Toronto), and by Calgary CentralWeb Colourpress, in Alberta, and Vancouver College Printers in British Columbia.

Alberta and British Columbia represent two new markets in Transcontinental's work for the Globe and Mail. Of the contract's C$95 million in annual revenue, approximately C$25 million is new revenue, according to Transcontinental.

The Globe and Mail, an International Newspaper Color Quality Club member, was redesigned last year, with enhanced use of graphics, illustrations, photography, and color.