The Fifth Annual Surface Transportation – a Great Opportunity to Learn and Network

The 2013 Surface Transportation Summit is scheduled for October 16 at the Mississauga Convention Centre.  This year’s event, co-hosted by Dan Goodwill & Associates and the Business Information Group, will focus on a range of topics of interest to Shippers and Carriers.

The first track will explore the economic outlook for 2014.   The Summit will be utilizing a new format this year.  The three speakers, a leading Canadian economist (Carlos Gomes, Scotia Capitol), a trucking company President (Doug Munro, Maritime-Ontario) and an industry consultant (Charles Clowdis, Global Insight) will share their knowledge and insights in a dialogue about the key factors that will drive the economy next year. 

This session will be followed by a CEO panel.  Each panelist will provide their perspective on where the transportation industry, or their segment of the industry, is heading.  The panel will consist of Wes Armour, President & CEO, Armour Transportation Systems, Jacquie Meyers, President, Meyers Transportation Services, Fabi Richenberger, President, Northbridge Insurance and Peter Harrison, AVP, CPCS.  This promises to be a thought-provoking session.

Following a short networking break, the next track will look at outsourcing fleet management to a third party.  The panel will consist of two individuals.  Angelo Sarracini, President of Bailey Metals, a large shipper, will talk about the process of evaluating the option of transferring the freight transportation work from an internal fleet to a dedicated fleet specialist.  Jeff Lindsey, the President and CEO of Canada Cartage, will outline the conversion process and highlight some of the Best Practices in Dedicated Fleet Management.

Intermodal transportation has long been a key component of long haul transportation, both domestic and cross-border.  Many shippers still don’t have a full understanding of how and when to use intermodal service in their supply chain strategy.  This track will feature a panel discussion among the executives of four companies that are all heavily engaged in this sector.  Keith Reardon, VP of Intermodal Services at CN Rail, Ron Tepper, Executive Chairman & CEO of Consolidated Fastfrate, Neil McKenna, Vice President of Intermodal Transportation, Canadian Tire and Barry O’Neil, Executive Vice President, Hub Group Canada, all experts in the field of intermodal transportation, will share their thoughts on the role and value of this service.

After lunch, the conference will address another set of topics of interest to transportation professionals.  Improving the effectiveness of a company’s Sales operation is a priority for almost every transportation company executive.  This panel will consist of a leading transportation sales executive, Jeff Pries, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Bison Transport and a sales consultant, Tibor Shanto, Principal, Renbor Sales Solutions.  They will share some Best Practices on how to maximize the effectiveness and performance of a transportation sales operation.

With so many “baby boomers” approaching the twilight of their transportation careers, the topic of Mergers and Acquisitions will be discussed in a panel forum.  Doug Nix , Vice Chairman of Corporate Finance Associates, who specializes in M & A activity in the trucking industry and Mike McCarron, a former partner of MSM Transportation (who recently sold his trucking company), who now leads the M & A practice at the Wheels group, will engage in a dialogue on how to achieve success with this process.  This promises to be a most interesting conversation.

In this era of modest economic growth, shippers and third party logistics companies seek carriers that perform, that deliver dependable on-time service, with minimal claims and bill accurately for their services.  How do you ensure that you receive good value for your money?  Tom Coates, Senior Vice president & COO of Lakeside Logistics, a non-asset based 3PL and Anna Petrova, Director, Senior Manager, Customer Srervice and Transportation, Ferrero Canada, a major shipper, will discuss how they set expectations and manage compliance.

Freight Bids.  Shippers love them; carriers cringe when they hear these two words.  Shippers are seeking to find cost effective transportation solutions; carriers are seeking to allocate their capacity, to consistent, financially stable shippers, at a fair price, so they can achieve a reasonable return on their investments.   Is there a better way?  This panel, consisting of two large shippers, Mike Owens, Vice President of Physical Logistics, Nestle Canada, Grace Tomaszun, Manager of North American Sourcing for McCormick & Company and two large carriers, Michelle Arsenault, Managing Partner, GX Transportation, Don Morrison, VP, Sales & Marketing – Van Operations, Laidlaw Carriers, will discuss this topic.  The intent will be to seek out areas of common ground and identify opportunities for improvement. 

In addition to a full day of high quality educational content, there will be ample opportunities to connect with friends and colleagues, meet new prospects and/or new shippers and carriers.   I hope to see you there.

For more information on the 2013 Surface Transportation Summit, click on this link.  www.surfacetransportationsummit.com