Registration is Now Open for the 2014 Surface Transportation Summit

For the sixth consecutive year, Dan Goodwill & Associates and the Business Information Group (publishers of Canadian Shipper and MotorTruck Fleet Executive) will be co-hosting a Surface Transportation Summit. The 2014 Summit, scheduled for October 15 at the Mississauga Convention Centre, will feature expanded networking opportunities and more educational tracks. The following are some of the highlights.

The event will be kicked off by Carlos Gomes, a Senior Economist with the Bank of Nova Scotia. Carlos along with a panel of shippers and carriers, will take a look ahead at where the Canadian Economy and the Canadian Freight Industry will be going in 2015. Joining Lou Smyrlis, Publisher and Editorial Director at the Business Information Group on a panel will be David Newman, Director, Equity Research Analyst with Cormak Securities, Patrick Cain, CEO at Cain Express and Mark Seymour, President of Kriska Holdings Ltd.

This will be followed by an Executive Leadership Perspectives panel. Paul Cooper, President of SLH Transport, Douglas Harrison, CEO of Versacold Logistics, Mathieu Faure, Marketing & Sales, Intermodal, CP Rail and Rob Penner, Executive Vice President and COO, Bison Transport, will share their thoughts on some of the major issues facing their sectors of the Transportation industry.

One of the hot topics at last year’s Summit was the need for more shipper-carrier collaboration. In fact, the primary advocate who spoke on this topic was Jacquie Meyers, President of Meyers Transportation Services. Jacquie will be back this year and will discuss this topic in a panel discussion with Gary Fast, Associate Vice president, Domestic Transportation Services at Canadian Tire and Elias Demangos, President & CEO, Fortigo Transportation Management Group.

The final track of the morning will focus on Same Day Delivery Service- Challenges and Opportunities. March Wulfraat, Founder and President of MWPVL International, one of the world’s foremost experts on Amazon’s fulfillment centres and same day delivery initiatives, will address what has become one of the hottest topics in the freight industry.

After lunch there will be two sets of tracks, with three concurrent sessions in each track. Immediately after lunch there will be a panel discussion in one track on Insurance Telematics. The panelists will be Sancha Duran, Account Manager, Sales at Shaw Tracking, John Oldfield, Account Executive at Dalton Timmis Insurance and Ryan Fletcher, Regional Account Manager at Peoplenet.

During the same time slot, two of the transportation industry’s leading advocates, David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance and President of the Ontario Trucking Association and Michael Bourque, President and CEO of the Railway Association of Canada will deliver reports on Regulatory Issues in Transportation.

The third parallel track will focus on Technology in Transportation. A leading shipper, Mark Sauve, Senior Warehouse and Transportation Manager, Hershey’s, a leading TMS vendor, Edward J. Ryan, CEO of Descartes Systems and a major 3PL and TMS user, Sean Watson, Senior VP Logistics, SCI Logistics, will discuss the latest trends in transportation management systems.

The next set of parallel tracks will include a workshop on Alternate Fuels. Kelly Hawes, owner of Cold Star Freight Systems Inc. and Aaron Feng Gao, Marketing Director of ENN Canada Corp. will participate in a panel discussion on this topic.

Warehousing and Logistics was a topic that was requested by several people in the surveys received at last year’s Summit. To address this topic, three leading speakers will discuss some of the most current issues. This track will include Alan Taliaferro, Director, Supply Chain Management at Deloitte, Greg Laurin, President of Conestoga Cold Storage and Jason Sonbichler, Vice President of Business Development at Ryder SCS.

One of the most frequently mentioned requests from delegates at previous Summits was the need to create more opportunities to meet the other attendees. Now that the Summits have grown in size to several hundred people, it can be a challenge to meet colleagues and prospects. To create more opportunities for networking, the following changes have been made to the 2014 Summit. First, the lunch hour and coffee breaks have been extended. For example, the morning and afternoon coffee breaks have been increased from fifteen minutes to thirty minutes each. Second, a new track has been created for people who are seeking to meet specific shippers, carrier or vendors. Running in parallel with the other two tracks in this time slot, those interested in meeting specific types of companies can sign up for this track. The Summit organizers will seek to create up to three 15 minute meetings with other attendees at the Summit. Those interested must sign up for this track and specify the type of opportunities (e.g. seeking to meet refrigerated transport carriers, seeking to meet shippers with truckload freight etc.). Those who sign up will be notified of the meetings that have been arranged. Walk-ins will not be accepted.

The last track of the event will address a subject near and dear to the hearts of many, Freight Rate Pricing. Three authorities on this topic, Kenneth Manning, President and Owner of the Transportation Costing Group, Kris McBride, Vice President of the Supply Chain Group at Metro Canada Logistics and Kevin Taylor, General Manager of DTA Services will share their insights on how shippers can improve their management of freight costs and how carriers can improve their yields on the traffic that they haul.

Registration is now open. Take advantage of the early bird rate and enjoy a great day of education and networking on October 15. To learn more about the 2014 Surface Transportation Summit and register for the event, click on this link (www.surfacetransportationsummit.com).