E-commerce has emerged from its “more hype than substance beginnings” in the 90s to grow into a critical segment of the Canadian economy. Our digital economy accounts for more than $50 billion or about 3.0% of the Canadian economy. An international study, conducted for Google by Boston Consulting Group, forecast the digital economy would account

A significant portion of Canada’s growth industries rely on for-hire trucking for cost-effective and timely inbound and outbound transportation. Whether they can continue to do so has been called into question by a recently-released Conference Board of Canada study. The study takes a hard look at the unfavorable demographic reality for-hire carriers face when it

Attending the Transport Institute’s Northern Exposure 2 conference in Winnipeg recently proved an illuminating foray into the challenges of serving Canada’s northern communities – admittedly the kind of stuff those of us who live and work in more forgiving climates, terrains and transportation networks don’t think much about, but should. Why should we? Because our

While co-hosting a CITT webinar on transportation trends in late January with Cormark market analyst David Newman, the issue of trucking industry consolidation and the subsequent impact on capacity, came up, yet again. It’s an issue key to shippers who rely on truck transportation to get their products to market, particularly if other modes don’t

While co-hosting a CITT webinar on transportation trends in late January with Cormark market analyst David Newman, the issue of trucking industry consolidation and the subsequent impact on capacity, came up, yet again. It’s an issue key to shippers who rely on truck transportation to get their products to market, particularly if other modes don’t

Relations between Canada’s Class 1 railways and the multitude of Canadian shippers who rely on them for cost effective transportation have been filled with acrimony for years now, to the detriment of both. Shippers have had to endure service disruptions and angry customers due to service issues. Railways have likely missed out on more sizeable

Can equipment – specifically the inability of some motor carriers to invest in new tractors – fuel trucking’s next consolidation phase? American Trucking Association’s chief economist Bob Costello believes it could and I agree with him. The average age of a Class 8 truck in the US is now up to 7 years – the

Having attended the annual American Trucking Associations Management Conference I must admit I’m left wondering if trucking executives – the ones in the US anyway — really get what they deserve when it comes to their dealings with government. Let me explain. Just a couple of months ago, at another conference, the Commercial Vehicle Outlook

The latest PwC quarterly report on mergers and acquisitions in the US confirms what we and other industry analysts been saying for several months now about the North American transportation market: It’s ripe for consolidation. The United States showed a surprising amount of strength in both deal volume and values in the second quarter, even

While I’ve been enjoying the sunny summer weather at my home in the beautiful Kawarthas, I must admit to thinking ahead to the fall and the 2012 Surface Transportation Summit. Why? To put it simply, because this is the most ambitious conference we have ever put together for transportation professionals and we can’t wait to