Inside Logistics January February 2021

FEBRUARY 2021

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CONTENTS In every issue:

18

5

Taking Stock

6

Supply Chain Scan

When opportunity knocks

News and numbers from around the world

Automation and the pandemic

10

Movers + Shakers

Appointments and promotions

28 Trade Update China’s new deal

29 The View with Lou

Wallet woes

30

Safety First

Keeping your warehouse safe

ON THE COVER | PAGE 13

6

SUPPLY CHAIN SCAN

Building GM’s last-mile ecosystem | Vaccine distribution | Hamilton port | E-commerce | Trade optimism

19

13

Research Salary survey retrospective

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19

Infrastructure Canadian ports continue to invest

25

Trash Keeping the Canadian Arctic clean by ship

28 Trade China’s massive new Asian trade deal 3

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Brave new world THIS PANDEMIC isn’t showing any signs of giving up. The so-called

second wave has morphed into a growing series of scares over mutant versions of the coronavirus. As the old and new version keep circulating, vaccine distribution is hitting serious challenges. People are locked down again, travel is not rebounding, and everybody is getting pretty tired of it all.

But there continues to be a bright spot in all this with the lockdown-fueled surge in e-commerce. Consumers who have adopted online shopping in an effort to stay safe from the Covid-19 virus have discovered they like the convenience and choice afforded by shopping on a screen and having their purchases delivered to the front door, or at minimum to the curb for pickup. A survey by Canadian e-commerce enabler Shopify (see page 9 this issue for details) demonstrated that, around the world, almost 45 percent of people will hesitate to return to in-store shopping, even after the pandemic is over.

This shift in habits is having a tremendous effect on the companies involved in fulfilling online orders. Omni-channel commerce has trickled down to your local mom-and-pop shop. Small independent businesses that want to survive lockdown closures are being forced to embrace e-commerce, learning how to take orders online and fulfill them from their storefronts, and then offer local delivery or curbside pickup.

And, while that’s a significant challenge for a small organization, for the larger enterprise, the scale and speed required to keep up with growing, pandemic-fed e-commerce volumes are frequently necessitating a radical new approach to order fulfillment. When volumes mount and speed increases, process designers are looking to automation as a means of keeping up.

However, as we found in our feature, “Rebooting after the pandemic”, on page 22 this issue, adding automation or robotics isn’t always simple or quick. The variability of the e-commerce distribution centre environment, where every order picked consists of a different mix of SKUs, makes the task of automating much more complex. It’s a challenge that both process designers and automation providers are working hard to solve.

If your company is in the midst of an automation implementation or is thinking about embarking on an investment, please drop me a note at emily@newcom.ca. We’d love to share your story!

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SEE WHAT CANADIAN PORTS ARE BUILDING TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND. PAGE 19.

5

SU PPLY C H A I N S C A N |

GM’s electric van gambit Ontario will be home to fulfillment and delivery ‘ecosystem’ manufacturing

HAMILTON HUB New facility for Niagara region

MOVERS + SHAKERS Appointments and moves in the supply chain sector

10 E-COMM Consumers won’t be going back to the store

11 TRADE Execs optimistic

12

6

BrightDrop’s first product to market, the EP1, will be a propulsion-assisted, electric pallet developed to move goods over short distances

WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT that it will build elec-

tric commercial vehicles in Ingersoll, Ontario, at its CAMI plant, GM is committing to a future that sees the continuing rise of e-commerce combined with a heightened emphasis on emissions-free transportation. The approximately $1 billion investment will support GM’s plan to deliver the new BrightDrop EV600 in late 2021. CAMI will become the first largescale auto plant converted to produce electric delivery vehicles in Canada.

GM is basing its commitment to the last-mile EV segment on estimates that, by 2025, the combined market opportunity for parcel, food delivery and reverse logistics in the U.S. will be over US$850 billion.

Demand for urban last-mile delivery, fueled by e-commerce, is expected to grow 78 percent by 2030, leading to a 36 percent increase in delivery vehicles in the world’s top 100 cities, according to the World Economic Forum. At the same time, this increase in demand is expected to cause delivery-related carbon emissions to rise by nearly a third.

The car maker’s new business, BrightDrop, is making what GM calls a delivery “eco-system” that meshes last-mile over-the-road transportation with modular carriers for parcel deliveries.

BrightDrop’s first product to market, the EP1, will be a propulsion-assisted, electric pallet developed to move goods over short distances – for example, from the order picking floor to the delivery vehicle and from the delivery vehicle to the customer’s front door. Available in early 2021, the EP1 is intended to help reduce touch points, costs and physical strain on delivery drivers.

The self-propelled pallet will mean less reliance on equipment such as pallet jacks and forktrucks. It

will have built-in electric hub motors and will be able to travel at speeds up to five kilometres per hour depending on the operator’s walking pace. Able to carry up to 90 kilograms (200 pounds) and 651 litres (23 cubic feet) of cargo, the EP1 will have adjustable shelving and locking cabinet doors, to turn it into a pickup locker for last-mile deliveries.

A pilot program with FedEx Express saw drivers able to safely handle 25 percent more packages per day when using the EP1s. The couriers shared feedback that the EP1s were easy to maneuver and reduced physical strain.

BrightDrop and FedEx Express have another pilot scheduled to take place in one of the biggest urban centres of the U.S. this quarter. FedEx Express is also slated to be the first customer of the EV600, receiving the vehicles later this year.

“Our need for reliable, sustainable transportation has never been more important,” said Richard Smith, FedEx Express regional president of the Americas and executive vice-president of global support.

“BrightDrop is a perfect example of the innovations we are adopting to transform our company as time-definite express transportation continues to grow. With this new suite of products, we will help improve the safety, security and timeliness of deliveries, while reducing our environmental impact and protecting the well-being of our couriers.”

The EP1 and EV600 will initially be available only in Canada and the U.S. Once they are launched GM says it will be working on expanding the BrightDrop portfolio. A number of concepts are being explored, such as a medium-distance solution that transports multiple EP1s, and a rapid-load delivery vehicle concept.

INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

Photos: GM

8

| SU PPLY C H A I N S C A N

Supply chain interruption tops 2021 risks for business

Illustration: sorbetto

THREE COVID-19 related risks are top of

mind for business as we enter the second year of the global pandemic. Business interruption (BI), pandemic outbreak and cyber threats were the three most frequently cited dangers businesses see on the horizon, according to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2021.

“The coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that risk management and business continuity management need to further evolve in order to help businesses prepare for, and survive, extreme events,” said Joachim Müller, CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

“While the pandemic continues to have a firm grip on countries around the world, we also have to ready ourselves for more frequent extreme scenarios, such as a global-scale cloud outage or cyber-attack, natural disasters driven by climate change or even another disease outbreak.”

In Canada, 47 percent of respondents said business interruption was the biggest risk they face. Pandemic outbreak followed closely at 41 percent and cyber incidents was third at 37 percent.

“Business interruption, pandemic and cyber are strongly interlinked, demonstrating the growing vulnerabilities of our highly globalized and connected world,” Müller added.

A continuing concern The Covid-19 crisis continues to be an immediate threat to both individual

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safety and businesses, reflecting why pandemic outbreak has rocketed 15 positions up to second in the rankings.

Before 2021 pandemic risk had never finished higher than 16th in 10 years of the Allianz Risk Barometer.

The pandemic shows that extreme global-scale BI events are not just theoretical, but a real possibility, causing loss of revenues and disruption to production, operations and supply chains. According to the survey’s respondents, improving business continuity management is the main action companies are taking (62 percent), followed by developing alternative or multiple suppliers (45 percent), investing in digital supply chains (32 percent) and improved supplier selection and auditing (31 percent).

Cyber threats Cyber incidents may have slipped to third place, but the acceleration towards greater digitalization and remote work driven by the pandemic is also further intensifying IT vulnerabilities. At the peak of the first wave of lockdowns in April 2020, the FBI reported a 300 percent increase in incidents alone, while cybercrime is now estimated to cost the global economy over US$1trillion, up 50 percent from two years ago. Already frequent, ransomware incidents are becoming more damaging, increasingly targeting large companies with sophisticated attacks and hefty extortion demands.

“The consequences of the pandemic – wider digitization, more remote working and the growing reliance on technology of businesses and societies – will likely heighten BI risks in coming years,” said Philip Beblo, an expert in AGCS’s global property underwriting team.

“However, additional physical risks will not disappear and must remain on the risk management agenda. Natural catastrophes, extreme weather or fire remain the main causes of BI for many industries and we continue to see a trend for larger losses over time.”

The annual survey on global business risks from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) incorporates the views of 2,769 experts in 92 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts.

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SU PPLY C H A I N S C A N |

New multimodal facility for Hamilton port THE HAMILTON OSHAWA Port Author-

ity (HOPA) and developer Bioveld Canada Inc. are cooperating to create a multimodal hub in Thorold, Ontario.

The site is adjacent to the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.

The Thorold Multimodal Hub has more than 500,000 square feet of warehouse and a 200-acre outdoor storage and material handling area. Available spaces include a central warehouse, several other warehousing sites, truck dock and bays, a train shed and manufacturing shops, as well as a wood shop, auto shop and offices. Some spaces are turnkey, while others can be customized.

The Hub comprises facilities owned by HOPA Ports, as well as a 155-acre former paper mill. The decommissioned mill was purchased recently by Bioveld, a corporation which specializes in repurposing brownfield and industrial sites.

This new regional facility will be managed by HOPA Ports, through its subsidiary Great Lakes Port Management. It will also include on-site property management and development ser- The new hub in Thorold, Ontario, includes more than 500,000 vices provided by square feet of warehouse space.

HOPA Ports.

“As Ontario positions itself for an eco- 2020. The idea is to create a corridor of nomic recovery, and as the province’s multimodal industrial hubs along the population and congestion issues grow, Welland Canal in Niagara. Other hubs, it just makes sense for us to be making in Port Colborne and Welland, are being better use of Ontario’s industrial and planned. multimodal transportation capacity,” said Great Lakes Port Management (GLPM) Ian Hamilton, president and CEO of is the manager of the new Thorold HOPA Ports.

Multimodal Hub and a wholly owned The Thorold Multimodal Hub is the subsidiary of Hamilton Oshawa Port first step in the Niagara Ports plan, which Authority (HOPA Ports). HOPA Ports was published by HOPA Ports and operates integrated port facilities in Niagara civic stakeholders in September Hamilton and Oshawa.

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| SU PPLY C H A I N S C A N

E-commerce is here to stay Shopify survey gauges post-pandemic consumer preferences SHOPPERS WILL REMAIN hesitant to shop in store, even after the pandemic is over. That’s one of the five predictions about the future of retail made by e-commerce enabler Shopify in its recently published 2021 Future of Commerce report.

During the pandemic, 84 percent of consumers shopped online, and only 65 percent shopped in stores. While 79 percent of consumers polled said they will still regularly shop online in six months, only 57 percent said they plan to shop in-store on a regular basis in the same timeframe. Shopify’s survey found significant regional differences in attitudes to online shopping, with consumers in the U.K., Spain, New Zealand and Italy reporting the biggest changes in their habits as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Staying out of stores In Canada, 45 percent say they are uncomfortable shopping in person now.

Canadians are also among the biggest adopters of e-commerce as a result of the pandemic, with six percent saying they are new in the world of online commerce.

That’s the same as France, while Australia, the U.K. and India all have a newbie rate of five percent.

These shifts in attitude will naturally push long-term evolution in retail operations. Omni-channel capabilities will become more important, as consumers seek to avoid store interiors.

The survey found that while 54 percent used traditional home delivery, 28 percent received their purchase through local delivery services (coming from 25 km or less away), 23 percent ordered online and picked up at the curb and 21

percent used third-party pick-up points.

Canada and New Zealand had the largest percentage of shoppers adopting these alternative fulfillment methods.

What shoppers want Free delivery is still table stakes for online shoppers, with 59 percent globally saying it “improves” their experience, and 23 percent expressing frustration when it’s not free. In Canada free delivery is even more important, with 68 percent saying it’s critical. Free returns motivate 40 percent of shoppers, while 34 percent want faster delivery and 37 percent say slow shipping frustrates them.

This report is based on an online survey of over 10,000 consumers in 11 countries conducted in September 2020, as well as global Shopify sales data from January 2018 to September 2020.

HIGH-BAY WAREHOUSE FOR DEEP FREEZE INTRALOGISTICS AT ITS BEST In Burley, Idaho, NewCold celebrated the grand opening of one of the largest frozen storage facilities of its kind. This impressive project includes a high bay warehouse with 90,000 pallet positions supplied by SSI SCHAEFER. The demand for deep-freeze products continues to grow. As volumes increase, requirements placed upon deep-freeze logistics are getting more complex.

SSI SCHAEFER offers flexible, modular, and scalable solutions that optimize storage, picking processes, and profitability within cold storage facilities.

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MOVERS + SHAKERS Madeleine Paquin is heading up the board of CargoM, The logistics and transportation cluster of Montreal. President and CEO of Logistec Corporation since 1996, Paquin is also a director on the boards of Air Canada and the Maritime Employers Association. The CargoM board also appointed Michael Grier, vicepresident, global logistics, Dorel Industries Inc. as co-chairman, and Darren Reynolds, director, business development, sales and marketing at CN, as the new treasurer.

John Corey has been appointed president of the Freight Management Association of Canada (FMA). Corey replaces Bob Ballantyne who led the association from 2002 (see Inside Logistics December 2020 for a profile of Ballantyne’s career). Corey joined FMA as

vice-president in January 2020 after a career at the Canadian Transportation Agency. He worked in both the Air and Rail branches where he worked in dispute resolution between the federally regulated freight railways and their customers. Corey has a Bachelor of Science degree from Concordia University and a Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.

He has been a member of the Chartered Public Accountants of Ontario since 1990.

Amos Kazzaz takes over as executive vice-president and CFO of Air Canada on February 15, 2021. Kazzaz is currently the airline’s senior vice-president, finance, and joined the airline in 2010 as vice-president, financial planning and analysis. He became senior vice-president, finance in 2015. He previously held senior executive roles within the airline and transportation sector, including a 24-year

career at United Airlines. He earned an MBA from the University of Denver.

Logistec Stevedoring Inc. has appointed Philip O’Brien vice-president, business development. O’Brien was formerly president and founder of Gestion Castaloop Inc., which Logistec acquired in December 2020. Before Castaloop, O’Brien was director, business development with Groupe Bellemare and previously was with QSL for close to 20 years as vice-president, marketing, break-bulk.

Rob Walpole is the new vice-president for Delta Cargo. He replaces Shawn Cole, who becomes the new vice-president, global sales.

Walpole joined Delta to lead global cargo operations and logistics organization in August 2019, bringing extensive leadership experience in the logistics and supply chain sector.

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Global logistics recovery leads other sectors TRADE ACTIVITY across transport and

logistics supply chains grew 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to new data.

Tradeshift’s Index of Global Trade Health points to a significant recovery in global supply chain activity. Overall transaction volumes across the sector finished the year up 2.9 percent from pre-Covid-19 levels compared to an overall decline of 3.4 percent globally.

Technology and manufacturing sectors were up by more than 16 percent each.

Digitized invoicing and retail ordering led the way in Q4, with transaction growth of 34 percent. In a roller-coaster year for the sector, transaction activity had dropped by as much 36 percent in Q2.

The latest data also show strong order books among buyers in almost every region, suggesting news of a vaccine rollout in December prompted organizations

Transport and logistics supply chains grew 10% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to press ahead with purchasing decisions that may have previously been delayed or cancelled.

“Modern supply chains are built like high-performance vehicles,” said Christian Lanng, CEO of Tradeshift. “Asking them to navigate the kind of unpredictable environment we saw in 2020 is the equivalent of driving a Formula One car over a series of speed bumps. Conditions are certainly improving, but supply chains are bearing the scars from such a prolonged period of volatility”

U.K. losing ground While business confidence appears to be improving, Tradeshift data shows that

U.K. trade activity continued to struggle in Q4. Transaction volumes across the region grew just seven percent quarter-on-quarter and remained well below the levels seen before the pandemic. The combination of a significant drop in activity during Q2 and a weak recovery meant that U.K. trade activity finished the year 36 percent below the pre-pandemic level in March 2020.

China winning Trade activity in Western economies has only recently shown signs of returning to growth, but Tradeshift’s data show businesses in China have been operating at near-normal capacity since April 2020.

Cumulative transaction volume growth since Q2 stood at 118 percent at the end of 2020 compared to an overall activity drop of 3.4 percent globally during the same period.

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Execs optimistic that trade will bounce back SENIOR EXECUTIVES who make international trade decisions are optimistic that global commerce will bounce back quickly after the pandemic.

A study commissioned by DP World and conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 70 percent of

businesses predict trade will recover to pre-pandemic levels more quickly than recovery after the financial crisis of 2008, which took two years and two months.

Nearly a third thought the recovery would be twice as fast, with trade returning to pre-pandemic levels within a year.

The survey also showed that the pandemic has brought lasting change to the way companies do business. Eighty-three percent of executives indicated that they are in the process of reconfiguring their supply chains by switching or adding new suppliers, using different logistics providers, and/or changing production or purchasing locations.

Despite the widespread economic impact of the pandemic, 42 percent of respondents stated that their firm’s international revenues expanded in the first half of 2020. Nineteen percent reported no change from the previous year. These figures are encouraging at a time when only one of the world’s major economies, China, is registering economic growth.

The research was based on two global surveys of senior executives involved in their firms’ day-to-day international trade decisions and transactions. The first survey of 3,000 respondents was conducted between January and March 2020. The second survey, of 800 respondents, was conducted between October and November 2020.

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12

TFI International buys UPS Freight for US$800m https://tinyurl.com/ IL-TFIUPS CN’s Milton hub wins environmental approval https://tinyurl.com/ IL-CNMilton ATLAS, DHL buying large freighters https://tinyurl.com/ IL-AtlasDHL Bridgestone opens new DC https://tinyurl.com/ IL-Bridgestone INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

SU R V E Y O F T H E C A N A D I A N LO G I S T I C S PR O F E S S I O N A L

| By Emily Atkins

WHAT COMES AROUND, GOES AROUND Looking back at 10 years of logistics and supply chain salary surveys

F

or 2021, we decided to fire up the time machine and take a look back at 10 years worth of salary survey data. After digging through the MM&D Magazine (now Inside Logistics) archives, we’re delighted to share this trip back in time to 2010.

The economy was just recovering from the 2008 crash, and supply chain salaries were gaining traction along with it. Men made more than women, more education meant a bigger paycheque and cost control was the biggest challenge people faced at work.

Over the years since then we’ve see a few changes to our survey questionnaire, which means we are giving you the top line averages for salaries. Our survey was fielded every year until 2017, when we switched to every second year. That means we will be asking you later this year to once again take part in our Survey of the Canadian Logistics Professional.

With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging on, it will be a very interesting year to be asking our industry about working conditions and wages during this unprecedented time. If you have a question you think we should be asking for this 2021 survey, please get in touch soon (editor Emily Atkins can be reached at Emily@newcom.ca), and we’ll try to fit it in.

FROM THE SPONSORING PARTNER CITT is proud to be a sponsoring partner of Inside Logistics’ annual salary survey.

In a time when businesses and the wider public are better understanding the value of logistics, we believe it is more important than ever for logistics professionals to know their own value. And for businesses to know the value of their talent. Leading organizations know that people are their most valuable asset, and surveys like these allow employers to attract and retain talent in an informed, competitive manner.

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SU R V E Y O F T H E C A N A D I A N LO G I S T I C S PR O F E S S I O N A L

|

continued from page 13

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE One of the most consistent results in our surveys over the years has been the disparity between male and female salaries. The gender gap is a topic we have frequently tackled, looking at the how the differential changes with seniority, age, sector and position.

Over the years the difference has been as great as 27 percent, with an average of 20 percent from 2010 to now. This lingering discrepancy is one of the most glaring elements that this salary survey highlights. In our next issue, April 2021, we will take a look at some of the challenges that continue to face women in supply chain careers.

Top on-the-job challenges #1

2011

2019

Cost Control

Cost Control

#2 Supplier relationships

Labour shortage

#3 Risk Management

Capacity

#4 Environment

On-time delivery

Challenges A core question in our salary survey over the years has been about the challenges supply chain workers face on the job.

Every year, without fail, controlling costs comes out on top.

But some of the other concerns have definitely shifted over the years. For example, in 2011, cost control was followed by managing supplier relationships, risk management and environmental responsibility.

By 2019 those after cost control had shifted to the labour shortage, concerns about capacity (in transportation and industrial real estate space), and on-time delivery.

Our prediction for the survey we will conduct this year: Risk management will make a return to the top three, capacity and on-time delivery will remain in the top five and cost control will again reign supreme.

20%

Over the past 10 years the average discrepancy between male and female salaries in the supply chain has been 20 percent, with a high of 27 percent and a low of 16 percent.

TEN-YEAR SALARY OVERVIEW Year

14

Overall

Male

Female

Male vs Female $ Difference % Difference

2010

$81,000

$93,600

$71,300

$22,300

27%

2011

$82,800

$88,300

$74,600

$13,700

17%

2012

$85,178

$91,181

$75,033

$16,148

19%

2013

$87,908

$94,492

$77,482

$16,650

20%

2014

$86,987

$92,276

$78,819

$13,457

16%

2015

$92,182

$97,945

$83,381

$14,564

16%

2016

$90,566

$96,141

$76,919

$19,222

22%

2017

$99,902

$105,931

$83,881

$22,050

23%

2019

$92,289

$96,344

$77,971

$18,373

21%

INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

$108,000

$100,000

TEN-YEAR SALARY PROGRESSION $92,000

$84,000 overall

$75,000

$68,000 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2019

Legend Blue: High salary for year in category.

SALARY BY JOB FUNCTION

Yellow: Low salary in year for category.

2018 Salaries in $CDN Mean Male Female

Mean

2019 Male

Female

Mean

2020 Male

Female

Transportation

91,302

98,084

72,073

98,475

102,757

86,000

93,888

98,751

78,450

Customer Service

88,274

94,280

73,870

97,994

103,587

87,507

90,450

95,284

73,094

Purchasing

92,793

99,196

78,036

105,262

112,474

86,880

98,905

105,534

77,780

Training and Development

91,836

97,496

79,356

103,253

107,642

88,366

92,010

94,235

82,316

Inventory control

87,824

94,360

69,750

97,736

103,438

81,267

97,171

99,766

85,112

Project Management

94,687

100,685

79,479

105,756

109,415

92,964

99,549

103,523

83,474

Customs

83,732

92,024

67,667

96,820

102,854

80,091

88,383

91,006

79,197

Warehousing

95,041

100,524

76,570

101,699

104,594

82,750

96,942

101,645

75,439

Planning/ Forecasting

94,906

100,389

74,035

105,067

111,288

90,920

95,262

97,827

83,552

Order Fulfillment

88,630

96,921

70,783

95,865

100,484

82,113

95,212

99,638

76,640

Sales/Marketing

99,629

105,051

73,682

114,900

122,824

102,455

95,427

96,672

82,308

Information Technology

89,736

92,709

76,562

98,558

98,760

102,000

93,502

93,980

90,429

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15

A constant in the logistics world is change. After the last year, that’s more evident than ever before. But another constant is that a commitment to learning and development is the edge that sets businesses and professionals apart. In unpredictable times, we see that leading organizations double down on their investments in their people and their abilities.

Like many organizations, CITT has evolved with these times. We’re proud to have helped both individuals and businesses adapt to challenges new and old. &,77 LV EHVW NQRZQ IRU WKH &,77 &HUWL¿HG /RJLVWLFV Professional designation. The CCLP designation continues to be the gold standard for professionals in logistics who want to develop, deepen and demonstrate their logistics competencies with an industry-recognized credential, as well as membership in a matchless network of like-minded peers.

In recent years, CITT has begun working more directly with businesses – both shippers and carriers – to help them close skills gaps, perform competency

assessments and accelerate their peoples’ on-thejob training. That’s a very encouraging sign for the industry. In a time when some sectors are licking their wounds, the logistics sector is, for the most part, looking ahead and investing in the knowledge to emerge from this downturn prepared to succeed. $V D QRW IRU SUR¿W RUJDQL]DWLRQ IRXQGHG E\ LQGXVWU\ CITT is committed to partner with organizations of all sizes to help address your HR and learning & development challenges. If you’re interested in adding to the knowledge, skills and abilities of your current workforce – or connecting with experienced as well as fresh talent – we’d be eager to work with you next.

7KH ¿UVW VWHS LV WR FRQWDFW 'DQLHOH /LSSL RXU &RUSRUDWH Solutions Manager, at 416-363-5696 ext. 40 or at 'OLSSL#FLWW FD We’re looking forward to working together with industry and continuing to keep up our collective momentum as a progressive, forward-thinking sector.

Pina Melchionna President & CEO, CITT

2YHU RI LQGXVWU\·V PLG WR VHQLRU PDQDJHPHQW LQ ORJLVWLFV FDUU\ DQ LQGXVWU\ JUDQWHG SURIHVVLRQDO GHVLJQDWLRQ 6R if you’re serious about having a serious career in logistics PDNH EHFRPLQJ D &,77 &HUWLÀHG /RJLVWLFV 3URIHVVLRQDO CCLP® D WRS SULRULW\ IRU &,77·V LV WKH ÀUVW GHVLJQDWLRQ FDOOHG IRU E\ &DQDGD·V 7RS (PSOR\HUV ,W KDV EHHQ HQGRUVHG E\ JRYHUQPHQW PDMRU DQFLOODU\ VHUYLFH WUDGH DVVRFLDWLRQV DQG LV WKH only ORJLVWLFV GHVLJQDWLRQ UHFRPPHQGHG E\ &DQDGD·V PRVW LQÁXHQWLDO JURXS RI VKLSSHUV :LWK WKH LQFUHDVLQJ FRPSOH[LW\ RI ORJLVWLFV VXFK D FUHGHQWLDO LV QRZ FRQVLGHUHG D UHTXLUHPHQW WR DFFHVV – DQG SURJUHVV WKURXJK – PDQ\ UROHV DQG FDUHHU SDWKV LQ WKH VHFWRU <RX FDQ TXDOLI\ E\ WDNLQJ &,77·V UHVSHFWHG RQOLQH &29,' IULHQGO\ FRXUVHV QH[W VWDUW 0D\

RU WKURXJK DFFUHGLWHG SURJUDPV SUHVHQWHG E\ &,77·V FDUHIXOO\ VHOHFWHG DFDGHPLF SDUWQHUV 2U LI \RX DOUHDG\ KDYH H[SHULHQFH DQG YHULÀDEOH VNLOOV \RX FDQ TXDOLI\ IRU \RXU CCLP GHVLJQDWLRQ via &,77·V VWDWLVWLFDOO\ YDOLGDWHG FKDOOHQJH SDWKZD\ DQG E\SDVV FRXUVH ZRUN DOWRJHWKHU 1RW VXUH \RX FDQ FKDOOHQJH LQ" 7DNH RXU SUDFWLFH WHVW EHIRUHKDQG DQG JDXJH KRZ \RXU DELOLWLHV PHDVXUH XS WR LQGXVWU\·V PRVW UHVSHFWHG SURIHVVLRQDO VWDQGDUG ®CCLP &,77 &HUWLÀHG /RJLVWLFV 3URIHVVLRQDO LV D UHJLVWHUHG WUDGHPDUN RI &,77

Call us 416.363.5696 to discuss your options. Or click www.citt.ca/cclp

SU R V E Y O F T H E C A N A D I A N LO G I S T I C S PR O F E S S I O N A L

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HITTING THE BOOKS Higher education has long been correlated with better salaries in our survey. In 2011, when the average overall salary was $82,800, those with university degrees, from a BA or BSc right up to a PhD, demonstrated better earning potential. A BA was worth $84,800, an MBA earned $98,700, other Master’s degrees netted $93,500 and a doctorate was worth $117,500. Those with less education – from some high school up to a college diploma – earned an average $76,440.

By comparison, in 2019, with an overall average salary of $92,289, bachelor’s degree holders earned $100,377, MA holders took home $124,250, MBAs earned $101,332, and PhD holders made $118,500. By contrast, those with lower levels of education too home an average of $85,210.

Relevance of three most popular professional designations in 2019 Professional designations remain an important part of many supply chain careers. In our 2109 survey, CITT CCLP holders represented just over 31 percent of respondents, those with SCMP designations represented nine percent, and seven percent of respondents had a CIFFA designation.

The value of designations CIFFA

CCLP

Not very No Answer 3 A little 3 3

Somewhat 31

Extremely 45

Not very 6 A little 7

SCMP No Answer 2

Not very N/A

Somewhat 16

Extremely 41

Somewhat 24

Extremely 37

Very 26

Very 28

Very 14

No Answer 3

A little 11

Flashback to a 2010 quote from a survey respondent:

Education pays 2011

2019

Annual average

$82,800

$92,289

Undergrad

$84,800

$100,377

Masters

$93,500

$124,250

MBA

$98,700

$101,332

PhD

$117,500

$118,500

“It has become a much more professional field to be in...Salaries are starting to rise again based on experience and education.”

Legend

SALARY BY COMPANY SIZE

Blue: High salary for year in category.

BY ESTIMATED GROSS ANNUAL SALES

Yellow: Low salary in year for category.

Sales in $CDN Mean

2018 Male

2020 Male

1 million or less

78,842

72,273

76,333

83,273

Female

76,650

63,786

60,000

Over 1 million to 5 million

68,885

79,588

48,500

48,000

74,164

63,786

57,500

Over 5 million to 15 million

74,483

82,079

103,133

75,000

74,164

90,414

56,750

Over 15 million to 30 million

85,053

91,929

92,786

90,214

86,959

91,375

56,750

Over 30 million to 60 million

59,954

89,358

89,504

88,857

85,797

91,750

66,450

Over 60 million to 100 million

89,490

66,700

104,729

105,960

95,500

95,909

100,732

73,000

107,668

87,800

101,180

103,822

90,611

98,049

98,458

93,250

Female

Mean

2019 Male

Female

Mean

94,375

65,500

85,000

93,083

62,957

98,350

94,167

66,825

84,182

93,937

82,819

Over 100 million to 500 million 103,478 Over 500 million to 2 billion

97,973

99,284

94,125

106,818

119,133

78,083

101,382

108,675

88,692

Over 2 billion

111,276

115,024

99,367

123,038

136,747

90,346

111,433

116,691

79,438

insidelogistics.ca

17

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CANADIAN PORTS

| By Mark Cardwell

STEADY as she goes Canadian ports hold course on key development projects

I

n spite of the continuing pandemic, ports across Canada are maintaining their focus on long-term infrastructure development. As the world economy continues to chafe from last year’s recession, the ongoing resurgence of coronavirus infections and the slower-thanexpected rollout of vaccinations, port authorities are pressing ahead with projects that will ensure future prosperity and trade opportunities.

To hear Brian Friesen tell it, terminal capacity and supply chain efficiencies are the keys to intermodal success. That’s why he’s excited by the long-term prospects of three major infrastructure projects that are entering crucial stages of development at British Columbia’s Port of Prince Rupert in 2021.

“We are in the midst of a multi-year effort to create an integrated intermodal ecosystem,” said Friesen, the port author-

ity’s vice-president of trade and communications.

“These are big and interesting investments in a growing and successful port that is well positioned on the Pacific Great Circle Route.”

One project is the expansion – the second in four years – of the Port’s Fairview container terminal. Owned and operated by global supply chain giant DP World, the terminal’s annual throughput capacity was nearly doubled to 1.3 million TEUs in 2017.

Already operating at around 90 percent capacity – helping make Prince Rupert Canada’s third busiest port by container volume and cargo tonnage, behind Montreal and Vancouver – the terminal is being expanded to raise storage to 1.6 million TEUs. Work is already underway and should be completed late this year.

By then the Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor will be in use. It is a 5.5-km,port-

owned road with two additional rail sidings that will reroute truck traffic away from downtown Prince Rupert and shorten the drive to the Fairview terminal by 15 km.

The $115-million project is 75 percent complete and will be finished this spring.

“The growth of exports means more and more trucks,” said Friesen. “The new road will help eliminate traffic congestion and take costs out of the supply chain.”

Work on a related, National Trade Corridors Fund-backed project – the 70-acre Ridley Island Export Logistics Platform (RIELP) – will begin this year if, as expected, environmental approval is received. The $100-million project will expand existing road and rail infrastructure to support development of a largescale bulk transload facility and integrated off-dock container, intermodal yard and warehousing on the swampy island for export transloading.

Above: The port of Halifax is already equipped to receive the biggest ships on the oceans.

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CANADIAN PORTS

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continued from page 19

“This project is of significant scale, designed to handle multiple bulk railcars and provide international market access for Canadian products,” Friesen said about the RIELP site, which is planned for opening in 2023.

“We see this as a real opportunity to fill the many empty boxes that we now load back on ships with plastic pellets, cereal grains, lumber, pulp and mineral concentrate that we can receive, store and then transfer on a just-in-time basis.”

Approvals granted In Montreal the port got a major boost in early January when the Quebec government announced it was providing $55 million in funding to the Contrecoeur container terminal. Final federal approval for the nearly $1-billion project, which will increase the port’s container-handling capacity to 1.15 million TEUs, is also expected imminently. Construction is planned to begin in late 2021 with commissioning scheduled for 2024.

“This is a key year for what is one of the biggest strategic infrastructure projects in our history,” said Melanie Nadeau, the Montreal Port Authority’s director of communications.

According to Nadeau, the Contrecoeur project will enable the port to handle the steady growth in container traffic while solidifying Montreal’s position as the largest port in Eastern Canada and the main point of entry into the market-rich Great Lakes region and the American Midwest.

“We just finished the second phase in December of an expansion of our Viau intermodal container terminal, which now has a capacity of 600,000 TEUs,” said Nadeau. “But it’s already full all the time.

We really need the new terminal.”

The port of Montreal will also complete work this year on a public observatory and redevelop truck access and container and cargo storage areas at its century-old Bickerdike terminal.

Reducing congestion In Halifax too, the yardsticks are being moved forward in 2021 on two federally funded projects that will streamline container operations at the city’s historic port, the fourth largest by container volume in

20

Canada and the only port in Eastern Canada that can berth and service the giant vessels from southeast Asia that are now plying North Atlantic waters.

One project now in the advanced planning stage – the Marine Container Examination Facility (MCEF) – involves the construction of a dedicated facility and access road in the port for inspection of containers by the Canada Border Services Agency. Currently, containers are shipped back and forth by truck to the CBSA facility in Dartmouth, a trip that requires using city streets and harbour bridges.

“It would result in an obvious saving of time and money,” said the port’s manager of media relations and communications, Lane Farguson. “We need to be efficient and reliable in order to compete with New York City and other Eastern Seaboard ports for big-ship trade.”

Public consultations are expected to begin soon for a rail-based solution to move containers out of the port without using city streets. “Sixty percent of cargo that moves through Halifax goes right on to rail for Ontario and beyond, it never touches the roads in Nova Scotia,” said Farguson. “What we want and need to do is to move more of that cargo by rail.”

The solution, he added, is exploiting an existing rail line through downtown Halifax that was blasted out 100 years ago to help develop the port’s export capacity.

“Making that great rail cut was very prescient,” he said. “We’re now looking at ways to improve efficiencies at the other end of it.”

Southern Ontario’s gateway Projects aimed at expanding, upgrading and improving new and existing infrastructure in an effort to capitalize on future growth are also on the menu in 2021 for Ontario’s Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority.

“These are very interesting times for us and this year will be an important one,” said Bill Fitzgerald, HOPA’s vice-president of operations. “We’re investing a lot in our facilities, we’re looking for opportunities to buy new lands and we’re making major changes.”

Much of these efforts are centred on and driven by a cargo diversification strategy

“This is a key year for what is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in our history.”

– Melanie Nadeau, Montreal Port Authority

that began decades ago when steel makers Stelco and Dofasco fell on hard times.

The port bought back land and facilities like Pier 15, and expanded capacity like a new 56,000-square-foot, port-owned warehouse for mostly palletized goods that is leased by trucking giant Fluke Transportation. Similarly, Piers 12 and 14 are being upgraded, with a 40,000-square-foot building going up on Pier 12 for indoor storage of moisture-sensitive commodities.

A new $11-million project that is about to get underway as part of an agreement with Transport Canada involves the configuration of some municipal roads to allow a rail connection to Piers 14 and 15.

Across Lake Ontario in Oshawa, a tender is now open for a dredging project for the entrance channel to the port there to establish seaway draft alongside its docks.

Work is also starting on a land-use plan that will improve road alignment, railway INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

The Montreal Port Authority’s Contrecoeur container terminal received a $55 million provincial funding boost this year.

connection and other facility needs to capitalize on Oshawa’s close proximity to Toronto.

“We want to provide opportunities for people to move cargo, faster, safer and better,” said Fitzgerald. “We could see a lot of expansion there.”

Big and getting bigger Work on some key infrastructure projects under the Greater Vancouver Gateway 2030 strategy are moving ahead this year at Canada’s biggest port. Topping the list is the Centerm Expansion and South Shore Access project, which is to be completed in 2022. It will help meet an expected near-term spike in demand for containers shipped through the port.

Work this year to rearrange on-site operations and to build infrastructure like the new Centennial Road overpass and remove the Heatley Avenue overpass will help to

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increase the Centerm terminal’s containerhandling capacity by 60 percent while adding only 15 percent to the facility’s footprint.

Work will also proceed this year on another key development project: the federally funded Commissioner Street Road and Rail Realignment Project, which will make room for additional CP rail tracks and support the capacity needed to move goods and streamline operations on the port’s busy south shore.

“By alleviating transportation capacity constraints, trade capacity through the gateway increases,” said Ram Chungh, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s senior communications advisor, issues management and media relations. “The projects (also) reduce the effects of increased trade on local communities by improving traffic flow, meaning shorter wait times at train crossings, fewer interactions between

pedestrians and trains (and) helping to improve public safety in communities.”

Forward thinking For his part, Bruce Burrows, president and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, applauded the forward-looking efforts of port authorities – with federal and provincial support – in preparation for a return to normalcy and an accompanying uptick in global trade in a post-pandemic world.

“2020 was a tough year for ports in Canada and the United States,” said Burrows, whose bi-national group represents more than 130 marine stakeholders that operate in waters all around North America. “But they are continuing to make the investments and do the things they need to in order to capitalize on the opportunities that will arise when business picks up again.”

21

AU T O M AT I O N

| By Jacob Stoller

REBOOTING AFTER THE PANDEMIC As supply chain operators contemplate their post-pandemic future, many are seeing uncertainty as the new normal. This is changing how they view automation.

O

ne of the most sobering realities about the COVID-19 pandemic is that according to scientists, it will not be the last. In the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) final media briefing of 2020, Dr. Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s Emergencies Programme, warned that “we need to get ready for something that may even be more severe in the future.”

At the beginning of 2020, supply chain operators were already struggling to adapt to labour shortages, the growth of e-commerce, and the trend to mass customization. While the pandemic added to their concerns, its full impact wasn’t initially clear.

“I would say that in the first few months of the pandemic, there was a little bit of deer in the headlights, where people weren’t sure exactly how long this was going to last,” says Jeff Christensen, vice-president of product for Pittsburghbased Seegrid. “And then, as it was clear that it was going to extend out, people started to understand that ‘we need to deal with this.’”

Seegrid and other technology vendors expect demand to pick up in 2021. “People are, I think, accelerating some plans that maybe they were thinking about automating two or three years out,” says Christensen.

“Now, it’s ‘let’s pull them forward, and do them sooner instead of later.’”

Most of the activity is being undertaken

22

by larger companies that already had automation agendas and have been able to increase their market share during the pandemic. “The big box stores are still open for shopping everywhere, and they’re doing a really great business within their distribution centres,” says Warren Shiau, vice-president of research for IDC Canada. “So even though the Canadian distribution centres are still, for the most part, manual, the Costcos and the Amazons are trying to implement as much automation as possible.”

“We’re seeing some of the larger big box players making bigger leaps now,” says Chris Shaver, senior director, vertical market activation, at Atlanta-based supply chain technology solution provider Dematic. “They were a bit more advanced in their supply chain capabilities, and they’ve weathered the storm better than some of the smaller organizations.”

Amazon is a case in point. While that company opened a robotics R&D facility in 2020, it also hired 400,000 people in fulfillment roles to meet an enormous increase in demand.

Confronting the labour shortage The revelation that the labour shortage will be with us for some time makes the business case for labour-saving automation look like a no brainer. However, while end-to-end automation has succeeded in some environments, e.g. in the food industry, automating warehouses and DCs is more difficult than it appears on the surface.

“The issue in the warehouse setting is

that a lot of automation was born out of the manufacturing industry,” says Brian Nachtigall, logistics product and business development for Boston-based robotics supplier Boston Dynamics. “And in manufacturing, a lot of automation and robotics is built around very repetitive tasks where you have prior knowledge of the INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

“People are.. accelerating plans that maybe they were thinking about automating two or three years out.”

– Jeff Christensen, Seegrid

Boston Dynamics has developed a depalletizing robot, known as Handle.

material that you’re handling or the job you’re doing.”

Warehouse and DC environments, by contrast, have far more variability, he notes, and many efforts to introduce automation to these environments have failed in the past.

Even Amazon, which owns a robotics

insidelogistics.ca

company, doesn’t have easy answers to this problem. According to a May 2019, Reuters release, Scott Anderson, Amazon’s director of robotics fulfillment, surprised many pundits when he announced that the fully automated fulfillment centre was at least a decade away. “In the current form, the technology is very limited,” he said. “The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need.”

As the e-commerce trend continues to force operators to adapt from handling pallet loads to picking single items, many older automation systems have become obsolete. “The challenge with some older

automated facilities is the inability to adapt to rapid change in order profiles,” says Saif Sabti, vice-president and managing director of SSI Schaefer Canada, a provider of warehouse solutions.

Technology for the new reality The outset of all this is that the automation of warehouses and DCs will depend, to a large degree, on emerging as opposed to established technology. Recent developments, however, look promising. In a February 2020 press release, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) presented a two-year vision for the robotics industry that emphasized robots are

23

continued from page 23

Even Amazon, which owns its own robotics company, says automated fulfillment centres are a decade away.

becoming smarter and more collaborative, both of which will be key to their adaptability to logistics environments.

Boston Dynamics, for example, has developed a vision processing solution that enables robots to work with mixed-SKU pallets. “What we enable is depalletizing – picking cartons off of a pallet with no prior information about the cartons that are on that pallet,” says Nachtigall. The software uses artificial intelligence and high-resolution 3D and 2D sensing to handle nuances such as varying box sizes and slip sheets that are placed between the layers on a pallet. The system is able to pick up to 720 boxes per hour.

Many supply chain operators hope that that autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) will eventually replace human beings in picking, transporting, and placing anything from a heavy box to a small envelope.

Compared with other fixed methods of automation, AMRs are scalable – they could be added in the holiday season, for example – and they can also be integrated into workflows in areas where humans provide the least value.

According to Shaver, warehouse workers spend 70 percent of their time in transit.

“This is effectively unproductive time,” he says. “You’re not picking, you’re not packing, you’re literally walking from one point to another.”

Dematic, SSI Schaefer, and Seegrid are all major AMR providers for the logistics sector. Boston Dynamics is also developing a line of AMR products.

24

Companies can no longer make their technology plans based on a five- to seven-year horizon.

– Chris Shaver, Dematic

Faster timelines Another determining factor will be the ability to deploy automation on much shorter time frames. As Shaver points out, companies can no longer make their technology plans based on a five- to seven-year horizon. “I think that way of building supply chain strategies is going to be out the

window because of the unknowns going forward,” he says.

This is putting huge pressures on implementation time. Two factors will be key – ease of integration, aided by operating systems that accommodate devices from multiple vendors, and user interfaces that allow robots to be programmed directly by end users.

Denmark-based OnRobot, for example, has recently released software to allow its gripper technology to communicate with multiple devices. “All these tools are software controlled from the robot, and that has revolutionized the application integration process,” says Kristian Hulgard, general manager, Americas, for the Odense, Denmark-based manufacturer.

The software, Hulgard notes, provides a user-friendly interface that makes it possible for end-users to program the robot.

“Deployment time has just been reduced dramatically,” says Hulgard, “and I think that’s where the biggest technology leap has shown itself.”

As organizations move forward, the adoption scenario will be markedly different from what we saw leading up to February 2020. “If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we could not have predicted this even this time last year,” says Christensen. “And so that level of unpredictability will happen again. So design for change, find things that will address your cost efficiency metrics, but also can change as your business demands change.”

Seegrid’s vision-guided AGVs are used in some of the biggest DCs in the world

INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

photo: Seegrid

|

photo: Amazon

AU T O M AT I O N

OCEAN FREIGHT

| By Carroll McCormick

NORTHERN

EXPOSURE ARCTIC COMMUNITIES AND A GOLD MINING COMPANY

TEAM UP TO TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE

D

iscarded junk and hazardous waste in the Arctic is an environmental blight, but properly disposing of it poses logistics challenges. A co-operative effort in 2018 and 2019 by mining giant Agnico Eagle and the communities of Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet, in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, illustrates the challenges of executing such a cleanup, and their success.

There are 29 communities, or hamlets, in Nunavut. Each has its local dump, or landfill site, each has the usual garbage, plus cast-offs such as old vehicles and nasinsidelogistics.ca

Unless you are feeling lucky, space on a cargo ship needs to be booked a year in advance.

tiness such as motor oil, oil filters, old fuel, antifreeze, mercury, lead batteries and tires. There is no weekly garbage pick-up, no regular collection of hazardous waste, and no such thing as an easy drive to recy-

cling centres.

Most cargo is moved by ship, which other than for certain icebreaker-supported mining operations, only happens between roughly mid-June to early November.

Unless you are feeling lucky, space on cargo ships had better be booked months or even a year in advance. While shipping companies will backhaul cargo, poor weather or shore conditions can force a captain to delay a pickup, sometimes until the next year’s shipping season.

This was the reality that mining company Agnico Eagle, and the hamlets of Baker

25

photo: Agnico Eagle

Nothern lights over Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine mine.

|

continued from page 25

Lake and Rankin Inlet faced in the planning and executing of their co-operative effort to safely remove waste back to Quebec for proper disposal.

Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet, with populations of 1,728 and 2,500, are located near the top of Hudson Bay’s western shore. They are 2,314 nautical miles and 2,221 nautical miles, respectively, and about seven and a half days travel by ship, from the Port of Bécancour in Quebec.

Around 110 kilometres by road north of Baker Lake is Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank Complex.

The company’s newest mine, Meliadine, which came into commercial production in May 2019, is 25 kilometres north of Rankin Inlet and about 290 kilometres southeast of Meadowbank. Many Agnico Eagle employees live in Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet, where ships deliver cargo for surface transport to the mines.

Following a cleanup at Baker Lake’s old dump and landfill in 2010 in which 28 marine containers were shipped south to Bécancour, Baker Lake requested another cleanup, which took place in 2018. In 2019 Agnico Eagle worked with both Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet on landfill cleanups.

Planning for the 2018 cleanup began that April and a trained team did the job in July.

The 183 tonnes (MT) of waste collected included 17,000 litres of used oil and eight tonnes of used lead batteries. The shipping company Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. transported this garbage to the Port of Bécancour, which is about 140 kilometres by road down the St. Lawrence River from Montreal.

All hands on deck The 2019 cleanup teams for Rankin Inlet and Baker Lake included two hazardous material specialists from Brossard, Quebecbased Aboriginal contracting and consulting firm Qikiqtaaluk Environmental Inc., Sanexen Environmental Services Inc., four Baker Lake employees and three from Rankin Inlet, which Qikiqtaaluk Environmental trained. Agnico Eagle organized, planned and provided logistics sup-

26

For the cleanups, the company used containers that had been shipped north earlier in the summer as part of the annual sealift operations that bring new equipment and supplies to the Meadowbank Complex and Meliadine sites.

Rather than sending them back empty, the boxes did double duty and went home loaded with the waste the teams collected.

Hazardous waste

Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet are on the northwestern tip of Hudson Bay.

Nunavut communities do not have wharves, all cargo must be barged from ship to shore.

Each cargo ship carries its own fleet of shore transporters.

port. Baker Lake-based Peter’s Expediting and Arctic Fuel transported the shipping containers from the landfill to the barging area. Shipping containers were moved from there to waiting cargo ships.

Many people were involved, across five areas of responsibility: strategic optimization, environment, site services, warehouse and community relations.

Planning started early Agnico Eagle and the other stakeholders in the 2019 cleanups started planning that April. Since much of what Agnico Eagle receives is packed in 20-foot shipping containers, getting their hands on enough of them to transport the junk south was one less item to worry about.

Qikiqtaaluk Environmental evaluated the hazardous waste that could be retrieved, collected, packed and stored appropriately. Its assessment included determining the material, workforce and time needed to perform the work.

The materials required, which had to be ordered and shipped up from Quebec in the months and even the year before the cleanups, included oil containers, personal protective equipment, special identifiers for the sea cans, and hazardous containers. Agnico Eagle followed the same set of strict rules and laws it did for its own hazardous waste and ordered the same materiel for the communities as it does for its own waste management.

The company estimates that the Rankin Inlet cleanup crew removed 326 tonnes, including 44,000 litres of used oil and 24 tonnes of lead-acid batteries, filling 67 TEUs. The Baker Lake cleanup yielded 160 tonnes, including 8,100 litres of used oil, nine tonnes of lead-acid batteries, eight tonnes of used tires and 80 tonnes of scrap metal, filling 32 TEUs. A next step was trucking the containers from the dumps to staging areas on the shores of Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet.

When the Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. cargo ship was done barging its inbound cargo to the shore at each community, crews transferred the waste containers to the ship. Since the cleanup was for hazardous waste, it needed to follow a strict code for sea transportation.

Ship to shore Since Nunavut communities have no wharves, the ship-to-shore transfers are done by barge, one of the items carried INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

illustration: Rainer Lesniewski istock

OCEAN FREIGHT

ARCTIC SHIPPING SUPPLIERS Space on cargo ships must be booked a year in advance to avoid disappointment.

in each cargo ship’s “kit” of portable port infrastructure that it takes everywhere it goes. A kit can include tugboats, barges, forklifts, portable office, lighting, and front-end loaders – indispensable for moving every kilo of cargo from ship to shore.

Adding to the complexity, ships’ crews can only work in two- to four-hour shifts at high tide, turning what might be a threeday job at a wharf into a weeks’ long trial that would be familiar, minus the clatter of diesel engines, to the Arctic’s first explorers centuries ago.

At Bécancour, Agnico Eagle had to secure warehouse space for proper storage of the waste until the containers could be picked up. As part of the tendering process, it was requested that Qikiqtaaluk Environmental provide proof they could manage transportation and disposal of the waste to an approved facility once the

insidelogistics.ca

Several shipping companies are involved in removing waste from the Arctic: Desgagnés Transarctik Inc. backhauls mine recycling items, such as batteries and used tires, as well as machinery, dangerous goods, empty aluminum pop cans, scrap metal, and cars.

NEAS, which runs its cargo ships out of the Port of Valleyfield, Quebec, has been helping keep the Arctic clean in various ways. Every spring its staff clean Iqaluit Beach, picking up items like wood, strapping, lumber and spills if a crate breaks.

NEAS also has a Nunavik recycling program with Chambly, Quebec-based Soghu Collector, in which NEAS offers sealift credits. During the 2016 sealift season, NEAS partnered with a certified supplier of the Government of Quebec to offer sealift credits in Nunavik for the return transport of certain types of problematic wastes for recycling or safe disposal, including used oils and anti-freeze (and their containers) as well as used filters. The company has also been involved in an ongoing clean-up of DEW Line sites for the federal government.

Marine Transportation Services (MTS), a fleet of tugs and barges owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories, serves western Arctic coastal and Mackenzie River communities, communities on Great Slave Lake, and remote mining and oil and gas exploration and production sites. In 2019 it backhauled scrap steel and camp shacks from the community of Sachs. hazardous material has reached the final port. The last leg of a very long trip the waste was by truck to authorized recycling and treatment centres.

With these successes and good support to the community, Agnico Eagle reports that cleanups will be an annual practice with communities near the mine.

27

T R A D E U P DAT E

CHINA SPREADS ITS WINGS New Asian trade deal is world’s biggest SIGNED IN HANOI, Vietnam on November

15th, 2020, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between China and 14 other Asia-Pacific countries creates the largest Free Trade Agreement in the world: 15 countries, 2.2 billion people, a GDP of $US22.1 billion representing 28 percent of world trade and 30 percent of world GDP. Collectively, member states of the RCEP make up almost one third of the world’s population and of global GDP, putting it ahead of both the Canada-USMexico Free Trade Agreement and the European Union.

Current members are Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. India, although part of the negotiations started in 2012, is not part of the deal as it feared the lowering of customs tariffs would put its home producers at a disadvantage.

The RCEP will replace several bilateral agreements, reducing tariffs among member countries over a 20-year period, bringing common trading rules, including uniform rules of origin. The RCEP will drive intra-Asia growth, as having one set of rules will facilitate business development and trade within the region.

Canada knows firsthand how China conducts its foreign policy. Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were taken hostage and have been held there since December 2018, following the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, who was under an arrest warrant and extradition request from the United States. China also suspended its imports of canola oil from Canada, following the arrest of Meng.

CHRISTIAN SIVIÈRE runs Solimpex and is an international trade consultant and lecturer. christian.siviere@videotron.ca

‘‘The RCEP will drive intra-Asia growth, as having one set of rules will facilitate business development and trade within the region.” over 20 years, the actual impact will be slow and we won’t be able to measure it for some time.

Big benefits The potential benefits have been quantified by several sources. For example, the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated that the RCEP could add US$186bn to global national income annually, adding 0.2 percent to the economy of its member states.

The Brookings Institute, also based in Washington, predicted that the RCEP could add $209bn to world income each year and $500bn to world trade by 2030.

The agreement needs to be ratified by member countries, and then implemented. This can take several years. Since the tariff elimination will be phased in

28

Milestone for China However, it represents a milestone and a victory for China. One could question why free-market economies like Singapore, South Korea or Japan would want a free trade deal with a state-controlled economy and an authoritarian regime.

Australia has had an FTA with China since December 2015, but is learning the hard way that criticizing the Middle Kingdom for human rights abuses or industrial espionage comes with huge costs. China has recently either banned or introduced prohibitive tariffs on imports of Australian coal, grain and wine.

Effects of U.S. policies Interestingly, this trade agreement came near the end of President Trump’s term, during which U.S. leadership in the world was largely diminished due to the combined effect of ‘’America First’’ and the various ‘’tariff wars’’, not just with China, but also with U.S. allies like Canada, Mexico, the European Union. The U.S. is also the only important country in the world blocking the introduction of a GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple) tax on digital companies. Trump even encouraged a no-deal Brexit.

And, let’s not forget that one of Trump’s first measure was to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Had the U.S. continued to lead the TPP, more countries would likely have joined it and it’s an open question whether the RCEP would have come to fruition then. It could almost be said that the RCEP is an indirect collateral result of a messy four-year U.S. presidential term.

Although the full details of the RCEP haven’t been analyzed yet, it does not cut tariffs as much as the TPP (or the CPTPP, as it’s now known), and doesn’t go as far.

But, it’s the first multilateral trade deal signed by China, which naturally likes to promote itself as the champion of free trade, as the world has witnessed Trump’s ‘’tariff war’’ against China, and other countries, over the last several years. It undoubtedly extends China’s influence in the region and in the world.

INSIDE Logistics FEBRU ARY 2021

THE VIEW WITH LOU

WALLET WOES Why aren’t corporations treating supply chain professionals with the respect they deserve?

MUCH HAS CHANGED in the two

decades since we launched our annual Survey of the Canadian Logistics Professional to better understand the trends driving the profession. Looking back, as we’ve done with this issue of our magazine, I wish I could say the data point to an all-around positive picture. But I would be lying, seeing what I wanted to see, instead of the stark reality actually in front of me.

At the dawn of this annual survey I was a young(ish) editor just starting to learn about the profession of logistics. I quickly became fascinated with how much responsibility logistics professionals actually held and how many different hats they wore – from managing warehousing and transportation to dealing with different customs regimes, currencies and laws as their jobs became increasingly global in nature. And they did this while having to master increasingly complex technologies.

The word supply chain was just starting to come into use to better describe the totality of their responsibilities and importance to their companies. And yet in those early days they were still flying under the radar – unheralded masters of multi-tasking while other company disciplines such as sales, marketing and IT soaked up most of the attention and seats in the boardroom along with the fatter paycheques.

Importance of supply chain By the mid 2000s groundbreaking research, some of it conducted by Canadians, started to reveal just how important supply chain was to company growth.

This called for an elevation of the supply chain manager in the company org chart, I thought, along with a seat in the boardroom and certainly a bigger paycheque.

Soon many leading companies started to think likewise and we started to see an

ILonline.com

LOU SMYRLIS is managing director, Newcom Media’s Trucking & Supply Chain Group

“I also wonder sometimes if supply chain professionals aren’t too good for their own good.” elevation of the profession as we entered what I would consider its golden days.

Between 2000 and the start of the Great Recession in 2008 it was common to see three quarters of supply chain professionals reporting they received a salary increase. And those increases were sizeable with a quarter or less reporting increases below two percent.

Since then it’s much more common to see just 60 percent of our survey respondents report an increase in their salary over the past year and the increases are consistently meager, with about a third reporting increases of two percent or less.

By our last survey only half of our respondents felt their salary level had kept pace with their responsibilities over the past five years.

This is no way to treat a profession that any CEO would have to acknowledge is

critical to the success of their company.

So why is it happening? What has changed over the past decade that is causing us to backtrack on the gains made?

A fundamental change I believe has made a significant impact is the almost singular focus by many companies since the Great Recession of 2008 on cost control. More than ten years after emerging from that recession many companies remained in cost control mode – long enough to bridge the gap to the recession in 2020.

Demographic shift There is also a demographic shift happening, with the Baby Boomers who brought the profession to its heights retiring and millennials entering at the lower end of the pay scale.

I also wonder sometimes if supply chain professionals aren’t too good for their own good. Until Covid lockdowns came along, when is the last time you went to buy a loaf of bread or pretty much anything else and you couldn’t find it on the shelf? Despite the increasingly global and complex nature of supply chains they’ve become so reliable they’ve practically become invisible. Out of sight becomes out of mind.

But what comes around, goes around.

The retirement of Baby Boomers along with their higher salaries may have saved companies money but it’s also making for a tight talent pool that will get tighter in the years ahead. That will force a return to better pay practices.

And what we’ve all witnessed of late – the desperate need for PPE last year, the goods shortages induced by Covid lockdowns, and our need for an efficient vaccination system this year to get our societies back to normal, have been stern reminders of the importance of smoothly functioning supply chains and the people entrusted with running them.

29

SA F E T Y F I R S T

RUN A BOOMING WAREHOUSE? It’s time to ramp up your safety efforts THE WAREHOUSE INDUSTRY is booming

as Covid-19 restrictions continue to alter purchasing behaviour. Customers are increasingly ordering products online to stay safe from the pandemic. As this demand for online purchasing increases, many businesses have had to quickly respond by building new facilities, expanding existing facilities, or moving to an established facility with existing racking.

It’s good news for warehousing industry, but in the process it’s important not to forget about keeping your busy workers safe from workplace hazards, including Covid-19.

12 tips for safety in a growing warehouse 1 Ensure a new workspace is thoroughly assessed to support current Covid-19 best practices and create a Covid-19 safety plan.

It should include these measures: • Actively screening everyone who enters the workplace; consider devices such as temperature scanners • Self-isolating workers with symptoms and workers who are close contacts of Covid-19 cases; ensure space is designated for this purpose • Ensuring people maintain a physical distance of two metres or more; establish floor markings and signage • Having workers, clients and visitors wear masks; keep extra on hand • Disinfecting surfaces and objects • Supporting hand hygiene, particularly handwashing; install more hand hygiene stations • Promoting good cough and sneeze etiquette and reminding workers to avoid touching their faces • Notifying your local public health unit if any workers have Covid-19 or are exposed to it Learn more about creating a safety plan and access Covid-19 safety resources at http://covid19.wsps.ca.

2 Provide clear information and instruction to existing and new workers. Review health and safety risks, including possible trans-

30

NORM KRAMER, SPECIALIZED SERVICES LEAD – WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBUTION is both a Canadian Registered Safety Professional and a Professional of Materials Management with over 25 years’ experience in his profession.

He provides consulting services as a Warehouse & Distribution Specialist for Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS). Norm takes pride in helping businesses maintain profitability by reducing risk and eliminating accidents in the workplace.

mission points for Covid-19, what steps are being taken to protect them, and how they can protect themselves.

3 Design the workspace to keep people away from danger zones. Prevent third-party drivers from walking through the facility by installing a waiting area with barriers and washrooms close by. Ensure predictable human traffic through the facility by painting a walkway with bright yellow lines. Enforce its use. Keep pedestrians clear of loading dock area. Establish an outdoor smoking area away from high traffic areas.

4 Design the outdoor yard to keep people away from high hazard areas. Paint pedestrian paths in the yard to ensure foot traffic is predictable and away from truck drivers’ blind spots.

5 Avoid clutter by ensuring all floor space is clearly marked. Paint lines on the floor to indicate where pallets can be placed

to keep aisle ways clear. Provide adequate space for staging.

6 Ensure good air quality at the loading dock. Good ventilation (air exchange) is essential when trucks are driving into the warehouse loading dock. Establish a no-idling policy.

7 Ensure mobile equipment is suitable.

Consider narrow-aisle mobile equipment for order pickers so they can manoeuvre more easily, with a shorter turning radius.

Sit-down counterbalance lift trucks are not ideal in rack aisles due to their wider turning radius, which increases the chance of collisions.

8 Prevent mobile equipment collisions.

Paint line markings at intersections where mobile equipment travels. Including stop signs to establish the right of way.

9 Keep the workplace clean and neat.

Establish lots of housekeeping stations (e.g. at the ends of aisles) with equipment to ensure housekeeping is everyone’s job and is built into the daily work routine.

10 Prevent material from falling. Consider installing vertical netting or similar barriers on the sides of the racking near pedestrian traffic and/or work areas.

Before making modifications to an existing racking system, confirm whether any proposed changes would trigger a prestart health and safety review. A pre-start review is required when installing new racking, modifying existing racking or in cases where specifications, like loading capacity, are unknown.

11 Purchase safe equipment. Manufacturers and end users have shared responsibilities when it comes to equipment safety. When contemplating purchases, consider safety features that have been integrated by the manufacturer or supplier. For example, these may include (among others) guarding or light curtains around pallet wrappers; guarding and emergency stops at conveyors.

12 Design workstations to be adjustable.

Consider ergonomics at workstations to prevent repetitious, awkward postures.

INSIDE Logistics FEBRUARY 2021

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