Canada Freight Research to Drive Policy and Practice

Focusing on economic and policy issues as well as the technical aspects of the industry, the University of Manitoba’s Transport Institute is a Canadian leader in transportation research. Its 2008 “Proposed Innovative Freight Practices” project focused on best practices for route optimization, emission reduction and energy conservation. That project highlighted key areas for sustainable improvement, including: trip scheduling, load matching, idle-reduction programs, and driver training programs, as well as vehicle operations and maintenance.

There are a little over 10,000 for-hire carriers operating in the Canadian market. The vast majority (6,900) are small size carriers, operating fewer than 10 trucks and earning less than Cdn$1 million annually. Medium size carriers (3,300) with operating fleets of ten to 200 tractors make up the other significant segment. The top 100 carriers, each with annual revenues of over Cdn$25 million operate with a fleet size of over 200 tractors. (Statistics are courtesy of Transportation Media Research)

The Transport Institute and TransCore’s research will focus on the volume of data, over three million freight matches per day, that are generated by Loadlink. Thousands of loads and equipment are posted on the largest spot market for Canadian surface freight and cross border freight with the United States. Over 5,000 transportation companies comprised of freight brokers and for-hire carriers throughout Canada access the system every day, according to TransCore. Over 50% of Loadlink subscribers are based in Ontario. Quebec and Western Canada together account for 45%.

“This report will provide visibility into emerging trends that are developing or declining and enable us to share this information with our broker and carrier members,” said TransCore's Claudia Milicevic.