Tornado Global Hydrovacs: A Mighty Wind

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The pioneering hydrovac truck builder Tornado Global is on the hunt for industry domination

Most tornadoes rise up and toss all in their path asunder. There’s one in Canada, though, that makes it mark with precision, making excavation safer and cleaning up after itself. The pioneers of Tornado Global Hydrovacs (TSX-V: TGH; OTCQX: TGHLF) are a best-in-class developer and manufacturer of hydrovac trucks and technology. Their high-pressure water and vacuum trucks safely penetrate and cut soil to expose critical infrastructure for repair and installation without damage.

Hydrovac trucks use high-pressure water and vacuum to safely penetrate and cut soil to expose critical infrastructure for repair and installation without damage. Hydrovac excavation methods are quickly becoming a standard in North America to safely excavate in urban areas and around critical infrastructure, greatly reducing infrastructure damage and related fatalities.

Brett Newton

Brett Newton entered the hydrovac industry at 18 as a fleet manager, then as a VP of a utility maintenance firm that provided hydrovac and heavy equipment services to the largest utility company in Ontario. Upon learning about Tornado, he invested in his own hydrovac trucks and grew the business to serve local utilities. After he sold that company in 2016, he and another industry expert built the first-of-its-kind smaller capacity hydrovac on a tandem chassis designed for use in urban environments.

“I knew the chairman of Tornado for several years,” he recently told BOSS. “I always loved the Tornado brand and the quality of the builds, and I was confident that with my skill set and my industry knowledge I could assemble a team that could build the best hydrovac in the industry.” So he did. Today, Newton is Tornado’s CEO, overseeing rapid growth driven by the growing need for safe excavation in and around critical infrastructure corridors and pipelines.

In the second quarter of this year, the company posted its highest ever quarterly sales, gross profit, and EBITDA, with revenues jumping 76% year-over-year. Net income nearly double from Q2 of 2022, and gross profit rose from $2.83 million to $3.96 million. Analysts expect Tornado’s 2023 revenue to top off at over $90 million.

In recent years there’s been a significant change in hydrovac use as a result of the increased frequency of natural disasters, and Tornado has expanded their scope to become a strong player in infrastructure removal and repair. As Newton put it, “When a storm blows in and takes out critical infrastructure such as transmission and distribution power lines, hydrovacs are deployed to rapidly assist stakeholders to get the power back on, or get through flood damage to quickly restore power or communications.” To accommodate the increased business, Tornado recently opened a state-of-the-art 63,500 sq. ft. production and maintenance facility in the Alberta city of Red Deer.

Newton credits the power of relationship building for their status as one of the largest manufacturers of hydrovacs in North America. “As our customers have been growing, we have been growing with them,” he reported. “We are incredibly grateful to have such an amazing group supporting our business. Their loyalty, enthusiasm, and feedback have been instrumental in shaping our success and driving us to continuously improve.”

Tornado’s extremely talented team of industry leaders in hydrovac design and manufacturing has enabled them to attract large partners such as Custom Truck One Source, the largest leasing, rental, and sales company in North America for utility related equipment.

“Our suppliers are involved in this rapid growth as well, and we are very transparent with them,” said Derek Li, the company’s VP of finance and controller. “It’s a mutual thing. We're benefiting from the relationship with our customers, and we want to share that with our suppliers so we can build very robust relationships with them to support our future growth.”

Tornado recently entered into a $43.9 million USD four-year supply agreement with Ditch Witch, a division of Toro. Tornado also has a strategic relationship with Greatwest Kenworth Trucks of Calgary, and the support of truck manufacturers including Peterbilt, Western Star, Freightliner, and Kenworth.

Newton added, “Our relationships with our dealers and factory support from OEMs allow us to build the best quality system on the best quality chassis available with the best support from service to integration and from integration to service.”

Tornado’s strength comes from its 167 workers, whom Newton describes a  “very talented engineers, drafters, fabricators, welders, mechanics, and administrative employees that pour the sweat into our products. Our people obviously are our biggest strength.

“If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to produce the quality equipment that we do. They take tremendous pride in the final product. Their exceptional skills, creativity, dedication to growth, teamwork and interpersonal abilities contribute to Tornado’s success and I’m really proud to have such a talented team.”