Transport sector gets its sexy back

October 11, 2007
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Martin Cash

THERE was a day when a $50-million commitment to upgrade provincial highways would have been noteworthy if for no other reason than it would have been an unusual event.

But when federal and provincial politicians announced this week the construction of a cloverleaf and the elimination of traffic lights at the intersection of the Trans-Canada and Yellowhead highways near Portage la Prairie, it became another piece of what has become a more high-profile effort to upgrade provincial roads.

In May, a $66.5-million upgrade of the busy trucking route along Inkster Boulevard was announced and there are other long-required construction projects underway along highways 75 and 59 to the U.S. border.
Like born-again sinners who found religion, the Doer government has committed $2 billion over the next five years to upgrade highways.

Manitoba has based its economic reputation on its transportation and distribution critical mass. But when the digital age puffed up the technology bubble, the hard realities of dealing with an aging infrastructure seemed like such a non-progressive thing to make an investment in.

But the latest edition of the Manitoba Transportation Report produced by the University of Manitoba's Transport Institute shows how much the provincial economy still relies on trucking and distribution.

At $3.22 billion, transportation and warehousing represents 6.8 per cent of the province's gross domestic product and trucking is responsible for more than a third of that. Trucking also makes up more than half the employment in the sector, with more than 24,500 direct jobs.

Statistics Canada released data this week, albeit with 2005 numbers, showing that shipments were up from 2004 to 2005 across the country, but transborder shipments were down.

"Trucking has a bigger slice of the economic pie than most people think," said Paul Larson, director of the Transport Institute. "To be honest, it is getting us to think more about it."

There are plenty of others thinking more about it as well.

At a meeting of the Mayor's Trade Council this week, Bob Dolyniuk, president of the Manitoba Trucking Association, spoke about the needs for the city to become a consolidation and distribution centre.

"We should be focusing on those infrastructure needs that will help Winnipeg and Manitoba become part of the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor and the mid-continent trade corridor so that we can be a consolidation and distribution centre and a transportation hub," Dolyniuk said.

One of these days, the idea of a multimodal inland port and the Manitoba International Gateway Strategy will get beyond the discussion stage.

Not long after the tech bubble burst, the trucking industry was beset by setbacks to the cattle and softwood lumber sectors, the rising Canadian dollar and a slumping U.S. economy.

The industry was left with overcapacity and a bad taste in the mouths of some in the business. Meanwhile, labour shortages hamper growth.

But the macroeconomic issues will play themselves out and Manitoba's trucking industry will continue to grow.

"When you look at all the aspects of trucking now, everything appears generally to be on the positive side," Dolyniuk said.

The sector continues to be an important wealth generator for the province because a lot of the revenue Manitoba-based firms earn comes from outside the province.

It may look that Manitoba is far off the beaten track of the overseas containerized shipping industry, but at some point along the route those containers need to be broken down at an inland port and there are good arguments to be made for Winnipeg to develop just that kind of capacity.

Winnipeg will never lose its location in the middle of the continent but it can lose the market opportunity if someone else takes the initiative first.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca