VANCOUVER – Pulse Canada has launched a pilot program to improve communication between its members and transportation providers.
The industry group has designed a tool that will forecast demand for ocean containers and track performance measures in an attempt to pinpoint what is wrong with a system that shippers have been complaining about for years.
“There are plenty of bad stories, horror stories, out there about service but not a lot of data that supports it,” said Greg Cherewyk, director of transportation at Pulse Canada.
Read Also
European wheat production makes big recovery
EU crop prospects are vastly improved, which could mean fewer canola and durum imports from Canada.
The association has established a website where shippers, railways and ocean carriers can input data related to the movement of pulse crops.
“We’re going to find and isolate defects in the process,” Cherewyk told delegates attending the Canada Grains Council semi-annual meeting.
Four aspects of the transportation system will be tracked. The first is a measurement that allows shippers to gauge how accurate they are at forecasting their needs.
The second tracks how much is shipped compared to what was booked.
“In a dysfunctional system you have people booking containers through multiple providers and actually shipping only a certain amount of that,” said Cherewyk.
The third tracks the performance of ocean carriers by measuring how many of the shipped containers end up on correct vessels.
Early anecdotal evidence suggests splitting cargo among different vessels or rolling it over for future boats could be a problem area.
“You’re going to see a lot of splitting cargo,” said Cherewyk.
The last measure tracks railway performance by monitoring car order versus supply, how many cars were rejected as unsuitable, transit time, transit time variance and dwell times.
Five pulse crop shippers have signed up for the program. Pulse Canada hopes to attract 10 to 12. It is looking for a cross-section of small, medium and large firms, companies from different geographic locations and processors representing all four major pulses grown in Canada.
The pilot program runs through March 31, 2009. The goal is to produce quarterly reports that will help identify where there might be problems in the system.
Data will be compiled and analyzed by QGI Consulting, an Edmonton firm that was recently awarded a substantial portion of the federal government’s rail freight service review contract.
The consulting firm is signing non-disclosure agreements to protect the shippers who participate in the pilot.
Cherewyk said Pulse Canada will only see the aggregate data, not the individual reports, and QGI will not release any aggregate data if somebody could use it to infer which companies were involved.
If the pilot is a success, the tool will be made available to all members of the Canadian Special Crops Association.
