Cynthia Scott says she spoke with her husband, Bill Scott, right after he saw the Interstate 5 bridge crash into the Skagit River about 15m below.

“He looked in the mirrors and it just dropped out of sight,” she from the couple’s home on a rural property near Spruce Grove, Alberta, just west of Edmonton. “I spoke to him seconds after it happened. He was just horrified.

“They’re saying in the news that he plowed into the (bridge) and I’m going, ‘No, he didn’t plow into anything.”’

The Washington State Patrol has confirmed that the truck hit a support girder on the bridge Thursday night. That sent part of the span thundering into the river below. Sergeant Kirk Rudeen said the collision appears to have led to the collapse, which took two vehicles with it.

“It happened extremely quickly…the bridge was basically collapsing behind (the driver) as he was coming to the other side of it,” Rudeen said.

Three people were rescued from the chilly water and were recovering.

The company Scott was driving for, Mullen Trucking, said it was sending investigators to the scene. Spokesman Ed Scherbinski said the truck was hauling a piece of drilling equipment called a casing shed.

“It’s basically just an empty, oversized shipping container,” he said.

The Washington state department of transportation had approved the company’s plan to drive across the bridge along Interstate 5 to Vancouver, Washington, Scherbinski said.

Cynthia Scott said a special car equipped with poles, typically 1.5 metres higher than the highest point of a load, had travelled the truck’s route beforehand to make sure everything would fit.

She said there was a small ding in one of the front corners of the load—not what you would expect if a truck had hit hard enough to bring a bridge down. She wonders if the bridge was already falling apart as the truck was going across.

“It would seem extremely strange that something so small could topple a bridge,” she said. “It does seem very bizarre that something like this did happen.”

The bridge was inspected twice last year and repairs were made, said Lynn Peterson, transportation secretary for the state of Washington .

“It’s an older bridge that needs a lot of work just like a good number of bridges around the state,” she said.

The bridge was not classified as structurally deficient, but a US federal highway administration database listed it as being “functionally obsolete”—a category that means the bridge design is outdated and there may be narrow shoulders or low clearance underneath.

The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, federal records indicate. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.

Some 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score.

Dan Sligh and his wife were in a pickup truck that spiralled into the water. They were heading out on a camping trip when the bridge before them disappeared in a “big puff of dust.”

“I hit the brakes and we went off,” Sligh told reporters from a hospital, adding he “saw the water approaching…you hold on as tight as you can.”

The couple was taken to Skagit Valley Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A man who had been in another vehicle was reported in stable condition at United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, hospital CEO Greg Reed said.

Scott, 41, typically sleeps in his truck, but it’s been impounded so he’s in a hotel, his wife said. Father of a young son, he has been driving truck for 20 years and hauling specialized loads for more than 10.

“He gets safety awards, safety bonuses just for being so anal for doing all these checks, for hiring the right pilot cars and pole cars,” his wife said.

ICAO confirmed the news Friday morning as did foreign affairs minister John Baird, who announced it on Twitter.

Qatar has offered no explanation for its decision to back off.

ICAO secretary general Raymond Benjamin learned of Qatar’s withdrawal in a letter Thursday evening and advised the body’s council on Friday morning.

“Montreal has been our home for many decades,” he said in a statement.

“While the offer to move us to Doha was extremely generous, ICAO is also very pleased to continue its global mission with the support and co-operation of the Canadian and local governments who have hosted our headquarters for so many years now.”

Qatar had wanted to move the headquarters, starting in 2016.

The organization has been in Montreal since it was founded in 1947. Its current headquarters were built in the 1990s at a cost of $100 million.

Qatar’s offer would have needed the approval of at least 60 per cent of the 191 member states.

Intense lobbying had characterized the bid by Qatar to get the headquarters and Canada’s efforts to keep it.

It came to a point where the two countries criticized each other’s weather.

Qatar argued it would be nice to escape Montreal’s bone-chilling winters while Canadian politicians asked if delegates really wanted to have to endure Doha’s blistering year-round heat.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper weighed in, pointing out that Canada had been a good host and suggested it only seemed natural that the civil aviation authority be in a hub of the international aerospace industry.

Canada was also supported in its efforts by US ambassador David Jacobson, who said his country would not support any move.

The Qatari bid had been seen by government critics as being politically motivated and a reflection of Canada’s pro-Israel policy in the Middle East—although Baird has characterized Canada’s relationship with the Arab world as “excellent.”

The rift between Canada and some Arab states extends to issues beyond Israel. The two sides have only just started to patch up holes in their relationship that were the result of long-standing aviation issues.

Both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been lobbying Canada vigorously for more landing rights for their airlines, only to see their efforts continually blocked by domestic airlines. Baird said using ICAO as a bargaining chip wouldn’t work.

Losing ICAO would have been a financial and political blow for Canada.

Montreal is the hub of Canada’s aviation industry, and its international reputation as a major player is partly based on ICAO’s longtime residency.

The organization also feeds the city’s economy; it employs 534 staff and says it generates some $119 million annually and 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.

MHI, formerly known as the Material Handling Institute, is forecasting that orders for new materials handling equipment are expected to grow between five and six percent in 2013. MHI expects 2014 to exhibit even stronger growth, and projects an increase in sales of 10 percent or more.

This comes after a strong 2012 when materials handling equipment new orders grew 7.2 percent.

“As the current US economic expansion shifts from capital expenditure-driven to consumer-led, we anticipate modest, positive materials handling equipment manufacturing (MHEM) growth for 2013. Housing, automotive rebounds and expansion in industrial, warehouse and commercial buildings (over 69 percent between 2014 and 2018) will contribute substantially to improved MHEM growth for 2014 and beyond,” says Hal Vandiver, MHI executive consultant.

Shipments of materials handling equipment were also up last year. They increased 9.8 percent from 2011 and MHI predicts they will continue to rise. The Charlotte, North Carolina association forecasts a growth rate of 3.5 percent in 2013 followed by a 9.1 percent increase in 2014.

US domestic demand (shipments plus imports less exports) grew 10.9 percent in 2012 and is estimated to grow 3.4 percent in 2013 and just over 9.5 percent in 2014.

Despite the positive outlook, there were a few statistics that showed signs of weakness. MHEM trade growth slowed by more than 50 percent in 2012. US import growth in 2012 was 19.9 percent lower than the 2011 figure. US export growth was was 11.2 percent in 2012, down from 26.2 percent in 2011. MHEM imports and exports are expected to slow dramatically in 2013 and rebound modestly beginning mid-2014.

All figures come from MHI’s latest Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing (MHEM) Forecast, which is produced every quarter.

But attention isn’t anything new for Walmart. The project that earned Buna his nomination entered the media spotlight when the retailer introduced its supercube transport trailer to the public.

The supercube is a longer, lower trailer which can carry 30 percent more cargo. It’s mated to a cab-over-engine (COE) tractor with a dromedary (aka drome) box behind it. The drome holds four pallets, (about 10 percent of a trailer load) meaning the combined unit can haul 40 percent more cargo in one trip.

While longer trailers aren’t anything new—LCVs (long combination vehicles) are on the roads in a number of provinces—the combination of the longer trailer, which measures 18.4m (60ft, 6in), and the shorter tractor means the full rig is the same length as a standard tractor-trailer.

Michael Buna, Walmart Canada

“It’s not just a 60ft, 6in trailer,” says Buna. “There’s more to it than just that. We have LED lighting in it. We have low-friction tires. We have an aerodynamic drag system put on it with skirting and cab fairings. The hydraulic system that raises this trailer to bring it up to loading-dock height means we don’t need to have our vendors or our stores modify their loading-dock height to be able to work with this. It’s quite a tricked out set of wheels.”

Mississauga, Ontario-based Innovative Trailer Design (ITD) designed the hydraulic system that raises the trailer to dock height, the sliding drome box—which permits the tractor’s storage unit to move directly against the dock during loading and unloading operations—and the trailer itself. Walmart also worked with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO).

The project began in March 2012, when Buna devised the concept. By November 2012, the company had MTO approval to run a pilot project and had the trailers and one truck ready to roll.

When the company unveiled the new trailer and the modified tractor (a 2003 model purchased used, since COE tractors are no longer manufactured in North America), the new design caught the attention of the trucking industry and the worldwide media.

Some of that attention, however, was less than positive. Representatives of the trucking industry in Ontario expressed concerns about how the pilot project was going to operate. Walmart owns the trailers, which it purchased from ITD, but the truck hauling them is owned by one of the company’s transportation partners.

“I guess there was a misunderstanding that Walmart was the one actually handling the trailer. We don’t actually own any tractors. We don’t have our own private fleet in Canada. Everything we do is through a third party. I think it was more of a misunderstanding that Walmart was actually going to be operating this equipment, when a third-party carrier would be operating this equipment and they would be the ones that would be held permitted with the equipment and be reporting into the MTO. If you’re asking me what was the biggest hurdle, that was it: channels of communication.”

The pilot, which allows the supercube to travel between the regional DC in Mississauga and a test store in Belleville, approximately 200km away, is expected to run for one year. “Our goal is to get it put into regulation. And not have it on a permit program.”

Buna’s other goal is to expand the program outside Ontario. Walmart has already entered into discussions with other provinces. In particular, Buna said the company would like to use them at the Calgary, Alberta distribution centre.

For complete MM&D coverage of the Walmart Supercube story click here.

FROM THE MM&D PRINT EDITION

The revamped interface also provides new navigational aids and formatting controls which make it easier to rearrange data.

The software suite from HighJump Software also has enhancements to its lot tracing functions, including new reporting tools that offer greater visibility to inventories during product recalls, and features that make it easier to process returns accurately.

Also part of the suite is an expanded portfolio of configurable voice solutions, including distribution voice-enabled workflow for areas such as picking, receiving and replenishment.

While the system has been configured to run on Windows 64-bit servers and thereby handle larger amounts of data better than previous versions, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company says it has also performed the engineering required to reduce the bandwidth demands the software places on the server by up to 75 percent.

Other code enhancements means that now users can access the software with any web browser, and not just Internet Explorer.

Over 375 shipping containers full of military supplies remain stranded at Kandahar Airfield nearly 18 months after Canada’s withdrawal from the war-torn province, and almost two years since combat operations ceased.

National Defence says the material is considered low priority and that all high-value and sensitive equipment has been returned to Canada.

A spokeswoman for the country’s operational command, Captain Jennifer Stadnyk, said certification of as many as 150 of the containers has expired and the technical assistance team will have to access whether they can still meet the standards set out by international shipping companies.

Defence sources said if the containers don’t pass, the military will have to find a way to dispose of the materiel.

The seemingly endless delay in repatriation of the containers, which were supposed to travel overland, was brought on by the extended closure of the Afghan border with Pakistan.

It has turned into a long, costly logistics nightmare for the military, which had intended to have everything home to fully re-equip and refurbish the army.

The equipment includes tires, spare parts, tents and other gear, and officials say their absence does not directly impede the army’s regeneration.

Last fall documents obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation showed the Canadian government has faced increased withdrawal costs because the containers still have to be stored and guarded.

Pakistan cut off NATO’s supply lines through its country in November 2011 after a US air raid mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, and the border remained shut until July 2012.

In winding up Canada’s five-year involvement in Kandahar, the military funneled its gear into two streams.

The first was an air bridge that saw Canadian C-17s and rented transports fly sensitive equipment and vehicles out to a friendly port, where it was loaded on cargo ships bound for Canada. The second route was to drive non-sensitive material over land through Pakistan, where it was loaded on a cargo ship in the port of Karachi.

When the Pakistan border shut, only 186 of the estimated 632 containers destined for overland transport had made it back to Canada. Of those, a significant number were pilfered from.

The documents show an average loss rate among the containers of 27 percent. Thieves who pried open the metal containers stole the contents, replaced them with sandbags and weights, and resealed the containers.

Rick Marshall, ONE

Ontario New England Express Inc (ONE), an Ontario-based full-service transportation provider is pleased to announce that Rick Marshall has joined the executive team in the role of VP business development. Marshall brings over 10 years of sales expertise, and specializes in container freight movement, complementing ONE’s cross-border focus. His responsibilities will include expanding ONE into a full-service provider for its customer base.

John A Schiller has been appointed to the board of directors of ONE. Schiller will be working directly with the president and CEO, David Carruth, to facilitate the transformation from a regional cross-border LTL service provider into a full-service logistics company. Schiller is a respected expert with a wealth of experience and will be taking an active role in developing the sales team at ONE.

The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) has named its board of directors. Michael Wohlwend, vice-president, of SAP Americas will serve as president of the Oak Brook, Illinois-based organization and the vice-president will be Paul Avampato, vice-president of customer service and logistics North America at Mondelez International. Sheila Benny, executive vice -president of Optricity Corporation is secretary-treasurer. Past-president is Gregory Javor, senior vice-president of supply chain operations global logistics at Starbucks Coffee Company. Director of the 2014 annual conference is Tim Hotze, corporate head of the logistics competence centre North America for Panalpina Inc, and 2015 conference director is Ken Woodlin vice-president of logstics, AP, compliance and safety of Walmart Stores Inc. Tony Ward, a partner at Kurt Salmon Associates, is director of marketing membership, Sylvia Spore, technology manager at RightSourceRX is director of webs services and Frederick Rake, executive vice-president senior group advisor at EP America Inc is director of industry relations. The following people are directors at large: Stan Danzig, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield; Stuart Rosenfeld, vice-president distribution at Pep Boys; Deb Parmé, vice-president North American logistics, and global supply chain and technology at Amway Corp and Tom Nightingale, president of Rectrix. Michael Mikitka is CEO of WERC.

John Tighe, president of Tighe Logistics Group has become a member of the board of directors of the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA). He will serve as rail council co-chair and insurance and legal committee board liason for the Des Plaines, Illinois-based organization.

Robotics company Seegrid Corp has hired Evan Rago as an application engineer. He will perform pre-sales engineering of robotic industrial truck systems for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Seegrid.

ViSalus, a Los Angeles, California weight-loss company, has named Greg Schwartz as senior vice-president of global supply chain. His role will be to provide strategic direction, planning and leadership for the ViSalus’ supply chain management operations. He previously held the title of senior vice-president of supply chain at Jamba Juice.

Hickory Farms of Toledo, Ohio, has made a number of management changes includes some that affect the food and holiday gift retailer’s supply chain. Joe Loch, who served as the vice-president of supply chain is now vice-president of franchise and retail sales and Ty Hanline has moved from director of logistics to vice-president of supply chain.

Canadian Pacific Railway spokesperson Andy Cummings says the trains were conducting yard operations east of Medicine Hat on Saturday when the collision occurred.

Cummings says four cars derailed but none was carrying hazardous commodities.

He says it wasn’t a head-on collision, and that one of the trains made contact with the other.

The Transportation Safety Board says it is sending a team to investigate.

Cummings says the conductor has since been released from hospital.

He couldn’t immediately say what effect the interruption would have on the railway’s operations, but noted that there was capacity to re-route trains around the area.

Mike Doherty, a partner at Cambridge, Ontario-based Demand Clarity Inc, and André Martin, vice-president of flowcasting for JDA Software Group Inc in Scottsdale, Arizona, presented those figures at a technology session held during the 2013 Supply Chain Canada conference.

The pair told the audience in Mississauga, Ontario that although the out-of-stock figure hasn’t changed in decades, there is no reason for that situation to continue. They believe that by using the flowcasting methodology, the out-of-stock number can be reduced to zero (or near zero).

Flowcasting collects data at the retail point-of-sale (POS) and uses it exclusively as the sole source information throughout the entire supply chain. Rather than having multiple forecasts (one compiled by the retailer, one by the distributor, one by the manufacturer, etc), the flowcasting process sends one POS forecast throughout the entire supply chain.

Doherty and Martin provide a more complete explanation of flowcasting, and discuss the advantages it brings and the challenges it presents in the video below.

To see more MM&D original videos click here for the full list.

In addition to the flowcasting session, delegates to the conference had the opportunity to listen to a wide variety of industry experts including:

• Robert Vallender, head of physical logistics CO-Supply Chain, at Nestec Ltd, who spoke about the some of the security challenges Nestlé has faced—including having thieves using fake documents to pick up loads from the company’s DCs and steal them—the need to alter recipes in order to adapt each product to the tastes of the geographical market, and how today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world market keeps adding demands onto supply chains.
• Derrick Lio, operations manager for Lexmark Canada Inc, who explained how the printer manufacturer stopped dealing with over 20 different carriers and consolidated all of its transportation needs with one company —Ryder Canada—and now benefits from simplified, standardized reporting, and improved capacity.
• Bryan Tremblay, vice-president of supply chain and logistics at The Source, whose presentation focused on how the electronics retailer incorporates its bricks-and mortar store into its e-commerce distribution network, and how the company manages to serve both its retail and online customers out of one common, centralized distribution centre.
• Douglas Harrison, chief operating officer at Day & Ross Transportation Group, who told the audience how the transportation company is evolving its corporate culure and its approach to business with the help of coaches and industrial psychologists. He also explained how the company has moved away from the RFP processes and now prefers to use RFIs (requests for information) when negotiating new contracts.
• Aaron Hutcherson, vice-president of global supply chain planning and procurement at McCain Foods Ltd, who shared with the audience the lessons his company learned when McCain’s supply chain couldn’t support the surprisingly successful launch of a new food product overseas, and how subsequent launches into new markets now take the supply chain into greater consideration.

For more Supply Chain Canada coverage, see the coming May-June issue of MM&D magazine.

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) has officially authorized the passage of vessels up to 44m wide to navigate the Quebec-Montreal section of the St Lawrence. This means the 6,000 TEU post-Panamax ships are now permitted in the channel. The previous limit had been 32m wide.

The decision was made based on the results of a study commissioned by the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) and conducted by Transport Canada, the Laurentian Pilotage Authority, the Corporation of Central St Lawrence Pilots and the CCG.

MPA president and CEO Sylvie Vachon explained what the decision will mean for the port.

Shipping lines, no matter what type of cargo they carry, will be able to substantially increase capacity on their services to Montreal, which will inevitably lead to benefits for the port’s broad customer base.”

TORONTO — There are almost 300,000 unfilled private sector jobs out there and manufacturing is among the sectors with the highest number of vacancies, according to data compiled by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The Toronto-based CFIB, which represents small and medium-sized businesses, reports the percentage of unfilled jobs remained steady at 2.5% in the first quarter of the year, representing approximately 295,000 full- and part-time positions.

“As the economy has improved and unemployment has come down, companies, particularly smaller companies, have struggled to fill open jobs,” says Ted Mallett, CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president. “While unfilled jobs may seem harmless, they represent missed opportunity for business and the economy.”

The highest vacancy rate occurs in businesses with fewer than 19 employees, while those with 500 or more employees had the lowest (1.6%).

The highest numbers of actual jobs available are in manufacturing, hospitality, retail, and construction with 30,000 to 40,000 job openings across the country.

The construction industry has the highest vacancy rate (3.6%), although that rate is dropping.

Declines are noted in oil and gas (2.4%), information arts and recreation (2.2%), retail (2%) and hospitality (2.6%). There have been modest increases in agriculture (2.9%), transportation (2.5%) and social services (2.2%).

Saskatchewan has the highest vacancy rate (3.9%), followed by Alberta (3.7%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (2.9%). BC and Quebec fall within the national average (2.5%), while while Manitoba (2.3%), Ontario (2.1%) Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (1.9%) and PEI (1.5%) fall short.

The CFIB noted the federal government’s planned changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program could make it even harder for smaller firms to find needed staff.

“Smaller businesses structurally have higher vacancy rates,” says Mallett. “The TFW program has been one way for these businesses to fill openings that they could not fill otherwise. Ironically, it was problems at larger firms that prompted changes to the program, yet it is smaller companies with legitimate challenges that will bear the brunt of the impacts.”

First quarter findings are based on 2,909 responses, collected from a stratified random sample of CFIB members, to a controlled-access web survey.

Click here to read Help Wanted: Private sector job vacancies in Canada Q1 2013.

“If you have a happy customer that’s coming into your store and he’s leaving satisfied it helps to get him to come back,” Robert Sawyer, a former food retailing executive, said after speaking to shareholders for the first time.

He said lessons he learned in the highly competitive grocery business are just as useful in the home renovation industry.

Sawyer said his predecessors didn’t do a bad job but were unable to digest years of acquisitions once the recession hit.

“So I have to get back to basics, to look at merchandising, procurement, supply chain and marketing to see how we’re going to address to our consumers all over every region in Canada,” he told reporters.

That could mean producing regional flyers that cater to varying consumer demands instead of offering uniform specials across the country.

Sawyer said he plans to unveil his strategy next quarter, but the chain has decided not to sell its network of big box stores outside Quebec even as it focuses on smaller, proximity stores.

“We have all the ingredients for success. Now we need to optimize the recipe to achieve the full potential of this magnificent organization,” he told shareholders.

Prior to his arrival five weeks ago, the Quebec-based company said it was taking “a hard look” at either selling or reducing the size of its 30 big box retail stores outside Quebec that generate about $750 million of annual sales but together are losing money.

But Sawyer said most of the stores are profitable and selling them would have a big impact on the company’s distribution network.

Rona chairman Robert Chevrier said the stores are part of a network of stores of varying size that provide a competitive advantage over US-based rivals such as Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Selling the stores would diminish the value of the remaining network and tarnish how people perceive the brand, he said.

Chevrier conceded that the company’s new leadership is under pressure to turn things around.

“It’s obvious that if collectively, the people up here, Robert’s team, does a bad job I think we deserve to be kicked out,” he said.

Rona will announce in a few weeks whether it will sell its commercial and professional division that has about $500 million of annual sales.

Its current strategic plan calls for the closure of 10 underperforming big box stores and reducing the size of 13 others. Five stores have been closed so far.

In Quebec, the company has also started to reposition its Reno-Depot banner as a warehouse by reducing the number of products, but offering bigger quantities at better prices.

Rona said it has achieved $17 million of savings, or about 40 per cent of the up to $45-million target from administrative job cuts and the renegotiation of major service agreements.]

Revenues were $929.4 million, down $4.6 million from a year ago. Same-store sales fell 0.8 per cent, or three per cent in the retail division as cold weather caused a 28 per cent drop in the sale of seasonal items.

The company’s distribution segment experienced higher sales but that was offset by lower revenue from Rona’s retail and commercial segments.

Rona attributed the weaker results to disruptions in its operations due to changes at its Reno-Depot and Totem banners, increased costs of building materials, difficult market conditions and a late spring.

“We expect that fiscal 2013 will be another demanding year, because of the repositioning that will temporarily disrupt our operations,” said chief financial officer Dominique Boies.

He said the outlook for 2014 is better as Canadian housing starts are expected to increase and Rona will fully benefit from cost reductions.

Irene Nattel of RBC Capital Markets said that with a new CEO and chief commercial officer, 2013 “is best viewed as a transitional year.”

“Weaker than expected first-quarter results underscore the macro headwinds and operating challenges,” she wrote in a report.

The Cornwall, Ontario campus of St Lawrence College will be welcoming its first cohort of university and college graduates who are looking for some supply chain training. The three-semester graduate certificate program will be divided into two parts: two semesters of in-class instruction and one semester of job placement at a local 3PL or DC.

Frank Lockington, director of the St Lawrence College Foundation, said students will graduate with a wide range of skills, from purchasing to materials handling to using computer-based logistics tracking tools.

“When they come out they should be qualified to be a management trainee in any aspect of the supply chain,”he said.

“The curriculum is actually based on what companies in the area have told us are their requirements, and an examination of what else is being offered across the country for curriculum at this level.”

The program, which is the third in supply chain topics developed by the college in recent months (the others are an ongoing 15-week supply chain techniques course for entry-level workers and a now-finished eight-week materials handling course for warehouse workers) has gone from idea to reality very quickly.

“It was expedited for us. With a new program we’d normally have 18 months to get things up and running, but with what’s happening in the Cornwall region right now, the Eastern Canadian distribution centre for Target is scheduled to open in a few weeks, so their needs will be huge. Rather than wait a whole year for this to roll around, we’re going to try to bring in enough students to make it run in the first year,” Lockington said.

In addition to Target, Cornwall is also home to a Walmart Canada DC operated by SCM Inc and a Shoppers Drug Mart DC run by Matrix Logistics Services Ltd, adding to the heavy demand for supply chain employees.

The curriculum has been approved and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has granted approval for the course. No teachers have been hired yet—Lockington said they will mostly be drawn from local industries and will teach part-time—but the student recruitment process is already underway.

The college will be recruiting students locally and from across the country and further beyond. International students with a credential from their home country, can come to Canada, study for a year and then get a visa to stay in Canada and work for a year. The students will be ready for their placements beginning in April 2014.

FROM THE MM&D PRINT EDITION

Algoma Central Corp, a St. Catharines, Ontario-based owner and operator of dry and liquid bulk carriers, has elected its board of directors. Michael Burns, Richard Carty, Blake Hutcheson, Duncan Jackman, Clive Rowe, Harold Stephen, Eric Stevenson, WS Vaughan, and Greg Wight will serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders.

The National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council (NASSTRAC) has named Marc Fesser as secretary. Fesser, who is Dell Inc’s senior manager of Americas fulfillment and logistics, also joins the officer team of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based organization.

Salt Lake City, Utah temperature-controlled carrier CR England Inc has two new chief operating officers. Brandon Harrison and Zach England were both promoted into the positions. In his role, Harrison will oversee the national, regional, and Mexico divisions and also be responsible for safety. England will be responsible for dedicated and intermodal operations and will serve as chair of the board of subsidiary England Logistics.

The Mullen Group Ltd an Okotoks, Alberta-based transportation service provider for the oil and gas sector has elected is board of directors. The following people will serve until the next annual shareholders’ meeting: Alan Archibald, Greg Bay, Steven Grant, Dennis Hoffman, Stephen Lockwood, David Mullen, and Murray Mullen.

Made by Cybra Corp in Yonkers, New York, the UHF RFID tags are built for a single use and are programmable by the end customer. They operate on frequencies ranging between 860MHz and 960MHz using a Alien HiggsTM-3 integrated circuit, and can be read from up to 5.8m (19ft) away when used with a circular polarized antenna.

There are two models of Lock&EnCode seals available: basic and custom. The basic seal accepts ASCII and Hex data and can be programmed by the customer using EdgeMagic EPC or EdgeMagic Mobile editions. The custom version comes pre-preprogrammed with the customer’s data and is permalocked to match the serial number supplied by customer at time of order. It are also laser printed with the customer’s logo or name, serial number, and Code 128 bar code.

The polypropylene locks were created for use on direct-to-store shipments of plastic distribution totes and containers, but can also be applied to high-value consumer items or bundles of perishable goods. The tags also work with automated order and shipment validation systems

The organization has arranged a tour of the electronics retailer’s Barrie warehouse on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. The tour will be preceded by a dinner and networking event at a nearby restaurant.

For those interested in the facility, here’s what the MHMS has to say about The Source and its operations:

With (over 700) locations primarily in malls and plazas, stores have a small foot print, on average 1,500 sqf. To keep compulsory in stock inventory levels, stores receive multiple shipments per week consisting of mainly split case orders. The Source also provides a choice of online direct-to-customer or direct-to-store processing and deliveries across Canada from the Barrie DC.

In 2002, the DC was completely refitted with a fully integrated system: WMS, conveyor, automated picking, pick-to-light and shipping diverts. This was required to meet growing business needs and to provide efficient processing in a primarily split case environment. The system is designed to provide continuous motion, reducing the requirement for temporary storage on conveyor lines. In August of 2012, a new e-commerce fulfillment area was created within the DC.

Barrie Distribution Centre specs:

• 368,000sqf
• Knapp Logistics Automation (conveyor, A-frame, LMS, sort divert system, WCS)
• Infor (formally Exceed) WMS
• RF by symbol
• Bulk storage areas
• Rack storage areas
• ATS Retail Solutions provide 90 percent of outbound freight services.

The Source  Online Fulfillment specs:

• Knapp Logistics Automation—14 put to light work stations
• Conveyor by Wecon Systems
• Canada Post (direct-to-home service)
• ATS Retail Solutions (direct-to-store service)

For further details or to book a space, please contact the MHMS.

Saying the government was pleased the idea had been quashed, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan warned such fees would have a detrimental effect on both sides of the border.

“A border fee like this would have been very damaging to both the American and Canadian economy,” said Van Loan.

International Trade Minister Ed Fast was equally elated, applauding the decision as a recognition that “free and open trade, rather than protectionism, is the way forward to create jobs and prosperity for workers in both our countries.”

The US Department of Homeland Security had wanted Congress to authorize the study of a fee that could be collected from everyone entering the US from Canada and Mexico.

But the Senate judiciary committee voted Thursday to amend an Immigration Reform Bill designed to implement stricter border security measures, and closed the door on considering charging land border crossing fees.

The fight over potential hikes in the cost of moving across the border isn’t quite over, however, as the Obama administration continues to examine ways of paring down its massive budget deficit.

The US Department of Agriculture last week also recommended imposing fees for an array of border services, including inspections of agricultural products, commercial aircraft, rail cars, ships and even passenger baggage.

Van Loan said the prospect of new charges at the Canada-US border is always looming, and that’s why the federal government has to keep sending a message they are not a good idea.

“Obviously this is an idea that pops up from time to time, but we have to remain always in Washington active in advancing our interests,” he said.

The agriculture department last week suggested new border fees should be imposed to help offset the costs borne by US Customs and Border Protection to provide free services at America’s borders.

Fast also jumped on that proposal, saying he would press upon his US counterpart the harm that USDA fees could cause to businesses and the economies in Canada and the United States.

An extension is being added to l’Assomption Boulevard which will grant access direct access to the highway system for trucks leaving the port.

As well, a new ramp is being constructed leading south from Highway 25. This off-ramp, which is located before the entrance to the Hyppolyte-Lafontaine tunnel, will take trucks directly to the new common entry truck portal at the corner of Notre-Dame and de Boucherville streets. The northbound entrance ramp leading from the port to Highway 25 is also being reconfigured.

Currently approximately 1,500 trucks move through this section of the port on a daily basis.

“The fluidity of goods transportation on and next to ports is a crucial element of the supply chain,” said Sylvie Vachon, president and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority. “These two projects will allow the Port of Montreal, the trucking industry and all port partners and clients to further improve operational efficiency and make the Montreal supply chain even more effective.”

According to Bernard Breton, regional operations manager for the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), the man—who is identified as a Filipino national—died after a fall onto a deck of the MV Federal Yoshino. The crew member was said to be painting at the time of his fall. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was declared dead. The ship was in ballast at the time, waiting to take on cargo.

The Quebec Provincial Police were originally called out to investigate the incident. Since they found no evidence of criminality, the TSB sent out its own investigators to look into the circumstances surrounding the fatality.

The MV Federal Yoshino is registered in the Marshall Islands.

That conclusion, drawn by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), has caused the agency to take steps of its own to draw attention to what it sees as persistent and neglected issues.

Whenever the TSB finds safety deficiencies during an accident investigation, it issues specific recommendations designed to prevent similar situations from happening again. Those recommendations are directed toward industry members and organizations and toward the government regulators who oversee the marine, aviation, rail and pipeline industries.

According to TSB chair Wendy Tadros, those recommendations aren’t being acted upon quickly enough.

“Canadians deserve to be informed about safety, and these reassessments will help them track the progress made by Transport Canada,” she said. “When we see little movement from the regulator on our recommendations, we need to raise the red flag—and that is what we are doing today.”

The red flag comes in the form of the TSB’s annual reassessment of the responses to its recommendations. It has found that there has been “slow progress” on a number of outstanding issues, particularly in the aviation sector, and it wants Transport Canada to “intensify efforts” on correcting the problems.

The TSB says only 60 percent of the recommendations it put forward to improve aviation safety have been acted upon in a way that is “fully satisfactory”.

It also says there have been recent accidents directly related to issues that have already received recommendations from the TSB. Some of those accidents involve post-impact fires, a situation that has been addressed by the TSB in three separate recommendations, all of which have gone dormant due to lack of action. The TSB also noted that “not enough is being done to address a recommendation which calls on Transport Canada to require airports with Code 4 runways (1,800m) to have a 300m runway end safety area or a means of stopping aircraft that provides an equivalent level of safety—landing accidents and runway overruns are on the TSB Watchlist”.

While the situation is bad enough in the aviation sector to cause concern to TSB officials, safety issues in the country’s rail and marine sectors are being addressed in a more timely fashion.

On the marine side, the TSB said marine safety has improved and recommendations that had been on the TSB’s watchlist have been dealt with in a manner that is “fully satisfactory”.

While there was improvement in rail safety regulations, the TSB did say that “safety at railway crossings remains a significant risk. Many of the outstanding recommendations have not been fully addressed and there have been several railway crossing accidents in recent years”. The TSB also added that it is still involved in ongoing efforts to introduce voice and video recorders into locomotives.