History of Alpi Canada

Founded out of a need to ensure that his imported textile goods and the goods of his textile and garment customers were handled with the utmost care, Mr. David Kirsch set up shop at 751 Victoria Square in Montreal in 1936 as David Kirsch Forwarders, Ltd.

Leveraging his outgoing personality and dedication to hard work, Mr. Kirsch established alliances with reputable agents first in London, then in the rest of Europe. He could, on any given day, be often found at the docks of Montreal supervising the unloading of his cargo to ensure that it was handled with the gentlest of care and with speed of getting the goods through Customs and then to his store and those stores of his clients.

Soon, as his reputation spread among the importers of Canada, more and more importers began to seek out Mr. Kirsch to act as his shipping agent. His forwarding business grew from the imports of textiles and garments to eventually include housewares, footwear, fine European foods, and machinery.

After the second world war, Mr. Kirsch was joined by his son, Arthur Kirsch, to act as his partner in this new and ever expanding forwarding business. 
Mr. Kirsch and Arthur worked side by side for decades until Mr. Kirsch passed away in 1973.

Mr. Arthur Kirsch took on the role as sole leader of the company and saw it through a great expansion from the 1970’s through the 1990’s. He began negotiating with rail lines and airlines so as to offer more transportation options to a customer base that was growing every year. As a result of the vast trans-border business with the United States, Kirsch Forwarders opened Olympic Forwarders, Ltd in Toronto, and created a customs brokerage division, Viacan Customs Brokers, Inc.

In 2012, Mr. Frank Saravo, a long time and loyal employee that eventually became President of Kirsch Forwarders, entered into a financial and trade partnership with Albini & Pitigliani.

In August 2024, all Kirsch Forwarders shares were purchased by Albini & Pitigliani, the largest privately owned freight forwarding company in Italy . With the addition of a company as prestigious as Kirsch Forwarders (now Alpi Canada) , Albini & Pitigliani continues to grow  as a global company, matching, if not exceeding, those high standards as set by Mr. David Kirsch back in 1936.

Today, Alpi Canada, as a member of the Albini & Pitigliani group of companies, has full access to established agents around the world to better offer customers all forms of transportation services. The merger allows Alpi Canada to keep pace with the demanding needs of 21st century customers, including a robust Information Technology infrastructure,  while still keeping  the most talented import and export staff that are multi-lingual in French and English.