1995
Founded · Brantford · Family-Run
From Footwear to Sea Cans.
Founded in 1995 by Paul and Maria LeBlanc, Van Blanc Ent. Inc. began as a trading company sourcing footwear from Asia. During Paul’s frequent travels to footwear-manufacturing hubs in China, he encountered a factory specialising in sea containers for shipping lines. That discovery rewrote the company’s future.
Origin Story
A legacy in containers, built one decision at a time.
Van Blanc was already shipping roughly 230 sea containers annually from China to Canada, packed with footwear for the Canadian retail market. Once the containers were delivered, they remained in Canada, creating a surplus that could be repurposed and sold to businesses needing secure storage.
Paul recognised the containers themselves were a more durable opportunity than the goods inside them. He started buying containers directly from steamship lines.
The demand quickly outgrew the supply generated by the footwear business. To meet it, Van Blanc began sourcing containers from leading shipping lines and leasing companies worldwide.
Today, Van Blanc Ent. Inc. is a trusted supplier of high-quality sea, mobile, and marine containers across Ontario, including Northern regions. Van Blanc has been operating since 1995, 30 years as a family business. Paul brings 40 years in Asian trade and 19 years in the container industry specifically. His son Christian, raised in the trade and traveling to Asia with Paul since he was 15, has 4 years of direct yard experience plus 19 years of indirect exposure to the industry. Together, the LeBlanc family serves customers who value an honest local supplier in a market that has been overrun by online operators.
Family-Run, Always.
Van Blanc is small by design. We are a family business, not a national chain, and we keep our crew tight enough that you talk to the same people every time you call. Paul and Maria LeBlanc founded the company. Their son and a small team of long-tenured staff handle the day-to-day operation.
“We started Van Blanc in 1995. Forty years in Asian trade before that, 19 years specifically in containers since the pivot. We have seen good cycles and rough cycles. Right now there is a wave of scammers in this industry that I have never seen in two decades of working with containers. Our customers come back, and they tell their neighbours. That is the only marketing that works long-term.”
Paul LeBlanc · Co-Founder · Van Blanc Ent. Inc.The Team
The LeBlanc family behind every delivery.
Paul LeBlanc
Owner · Co-Founder
40 years Asian trade · 19 years containers
Paul founded Van Blanc with Maria in 1995. He spent four decades in Asian trade beforehand, starting in import-export from Asia (footwear, bulk goods) before recognising the steel boxes the goods came in were a more durable opportunity than the goods inside them. He still walks every container in the Brantford yard with buyers who visit before purchase.
Christian LeBlanc
Second-Generation Operator
4 years yard · 19 years industry exposure
Christian is Paul’s son, raised in the container trade, traveling to Asia with Paul starting at age fifteen. He runs the day-to-day yard operations at our Brantford site and handles inbound calls from across Ontario. When a buyer asks about freight pairing windows on a corridor or door configurations for an equestrian property, he is usually the voice on the other end.
“I was 15 when I started flying to Asia with my dad. By the time I was working in the yard full-time I had already spent half my life around the industry.”
Maria LeBlanc
Co-Founder
Van Blanc Ent. Inc.
Maria co-founded Van Blanc with Paul in 1995. The family-run character of the company traces directly to decisions she and Paul made together about how big the operation should grow and how directly the family should remain involved. Three decades on, the answer is exactly as small and exactly as direct as they planned.
Come See the Yard. Talk to a Real Person.
The fastest way to understand how Van Blanc is different from every fly-by-night container website is to visit our warehouse. 90 Morton Avenue East in Brantford. Real building, real inventory, real team. No appointment required during business hours.