search.noResults

search.searching

note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
CALGARY\\\ >> 22


forwarders . New access


roads were also built to grant trucks and vans immediate access to the ring road, a big improvement over the airport’s old congested and confusing service roads. “That direct access is a huge


time saver,” says James Craig, Western Canada operations manager for DHL Express. According to Craig, the


global logistics giant’s facility at YYC, which serves as a gateway for import volumes into Alberta’s capital Edmonton and neighboring Saskatchewan, can now unload and process more than 1,000 inbound and outbound items an hour. DHL’s drivers also make


between 2,000 and 3,000 shipments and pickups a day. “Aircraſt arrive right behind


our facility here and cargo is unloaded and scanned and sorted within minutes,” says Craig.


“Our couriers are out


within 15 to 20 minutes of a plane landing, and they’re in downtown Calgary seven minutes later.” Craig admits that this might


not sound like a lot to most people.


“But it’s huge in our


business, it can take you to the next level,” he says. Craig explains that the


increased flow of goods, which is aided by the fact the Canadian Border Services Agency is literally next door in case


Issue 6 2017 - FBJNA


23


the city’s oldest industrial parks are located. “It used to take us hours to break up cars there,” Bianco says about the old 100- acre yard that had 12,000 feet of


rail. “And our customers


started migrating north around the airport once the ring road opened and the city invested in infrastructure there.”


Transportation Hub


Though Calgary is the newest of CN’s 21 intermodal facilities across North America, Bianco says it already ranks among the top five in terms of volume of goods handled. “Calgary is a great inland port


and market, like Kansas City,” Bianco says. “It is a tremendous transportation hub and network for Western Canada.” Doug Romanuk agrees.


As


Hopewell Logistics handles the logistics and distribution of many products from its warehouses in Calgary. (Hopewell Logistics photo.)


5% of Air Canada’s revenues, Flood says that rate is growing thanks to new routes, bigger aircraſt and modern facilities like its new 10,000 square-foot cargo facility at Calgary’s airport. He added that unlike the


days of $100-a-barrel oil when Calgary-based companies built


“We’ve been working hard to


improve the speed of movement of goods around the city and beyond.” Patti Dunlop, Calgary Economic Development


inspections are required, has led to an expansion of DHL’s sales force. That has in turn resulted in DHL, which is celebrating its 40th year in the Canadian market in 2017, increasing its market share in Calgary by several points to 17%. A neighbor on YYC’s Tarpon 9 - Air Canada Cargo - has experienced similar increases in efficiency and volume handling since the 2014 renovations. “Our old building was smaller


and much harder to get to,” says Rob Flood, cargo products business development manager for Canada’s national airline. “This new building is much more convenient and congruent to our activities.” Though cargo represents only


and exported oil pumps, parts and drilling equipment around the world, outbound cargo now consists largely of agriculture products from Saskatchewan like canola, flax and seeds, and live


Alberta beef cattle and


horses bound for the world’s meat markets. Flood credited the new


runway for opening Calgary to new lines and lanes of distribution, such as direct flights to Bogotá, Dublin and Bombay.


“It brings access and


awareness to markets,” he says. “We see if we can accommodate requests and capacity.” Another big and recent


change at YYC is a new $2-billion international terminal and connections corridor. Opened


in October 2016, it includes 24 gates and five levels spread over 2 million sq. ſt., enough to cover 32 football fields. According to Bernie


Humphries, vice president operations with the Calgary Airport Authority, the expansion reflects and dovetails with the growth and emergence of Calgary as a major hub for the movement of goods and people across Canada and the world. In 2016, YYC handled some 15.7 million passengers, making it the fourth busiest in Canada behind Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. He says the airport will likely


soon surpass the latter, thanks to the opening of three new European routes by WestJet, which is headquartered at YYC and is Canada’s second- largest carrier. The expansion of three international routes by Air Canada - to San Francisco, London and Beijing - and the advent of direct flights to Calgary by new airlines like Aero Mexico and Air China are also expected to shore up the city’s reputation as a world-class destination and North American hub. In regards to cargo and


logistics, Calgary also handles 75% of all air-borne cargo out of Alberta. That amounts to near 140,000 metric tonnes of


material, up nearly 2% since 2015. “We are providing the


necessary facilities and infrastructures,” says Humphries.


important are the good relationships we have developed with our clients and partners.”


Intermodal Rail


It isn’t just transportation and logistics companies connected to YYC, however, that are profiting from big boosts in business thanks to massive infrastructure spending and the amount of goods they carry to and from the region far outweigh what the airport handles. Canadian Pacific (CP) Railroad and Canadian National (CN) Railroad both service the region with intermodal.


In 2013, CN


opened a $200-million logistics park in the village of Conrich, just northeast of Calgary. Equipped with four


automated in-gates and three out-gates that keep in-terminal truck turnaround times to under an hour, the 1,000-acre intermodal facility also features six mobile cranes, 6,600 feet of working pad tracking, a container yard for international container storage, specialized


“But equally


equipment for temperature- controlled products, CN’s own trucking fleet, and co-location facilities that can be leased or purchased by retailers wanting to move goods across Canada or down to the Gulf of Mexico on CN’s 19,600 route-miles of track. “Calgary is a unique and


robust market,” says Tony Bianco, CN’s director intermodal sales (domestic). “We have set up a very unique train and truck package to meet our clients’ needs.


It offers flexibility for an


operational point of view and huge savings in costs and time from the first mile to the last mile.” Bianco sees Calgary as site for a major


the perfect


intermodal facility due to its strategic location between consumer- dense Central Canada and the West Coast. “Most goods come in from Asia, either through Vancouver or Prince Rupert, and are shipped to Central Canada through Calgary, where some is unloaded and reworked and shipped out across Alberta and the Prairies through our network,” he says. Intermodal trains and reefer


cars get rail priority over grain and lumber due to the time sensitivity of consumer goods. The new Calgary terminal is


a big improvement over the old CN yard in the southeast, where


vice president, western region of Winnipeg-based Bison Transport, one of Canada’s top truck carriers, he says Calgary has bounced back from the heavy job losses and business failures in incurred when oil prices tanked in 2015. “It hit all of Western Canada,


but Calgary got it the worst,” says Romanuk. “The amount of goods coming inland through the Port of Vancouver really declined. “This is a very service intense


business, especially for the retail space. We go where demand is most needed, so we had to diversify and look for more growth in Eastern Canada and the northern United States.” In the past couple of years,


however, Romanuk says there has been a renewed spike in full truckload and logistic services, intermodal, LTL and warehousing and distribution services to, in and through Calgary, where the Bison office is responsible for operations and dispatching for its fleet of 4,000 trailers, 1,800 drivers and 1,200 trucks that travel some 150 million miles a year across North America. “Calgary has been through


booms and busts before, that’s the nature of the oil business,” he says. “But it’s always been a great place to do business, to be in business. “Now that the economy’s


doing better -- thanks in large part I think to all the transportation infrastructure investments that have been made -- there’s a renewed sense of optimism here.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24