GCCA’s Lowell Randel and Phil Baldwin of TACTIX met with officials from Transport Canada who are working on the digitalization aspect of the new Supply Chain Office being developed. Christian Dea, Director General for the Transportation and Economic Analysis wing of Transport Canada noted that he and his team would support the new Supply Chain Office in three key ways: performance measurements (e.g. where are the transportation challenges); planning (moving from reactive to proactive); and digitalization (needing more visibility on the supply chain). On digitalization specifically, there are four pillars to their strategy:
Assess where Canada is on digitalizing the supply chain. They see Singapore as a leader, and Canada playing catch up.
Create use cases. They have identified strategic corridors in which they will test what Canada can do with industry to create an ecosystem for people to work together, share info, and plan.
Launch an official dialogue with the sector, with an initial symposium that will take stock and look at best practices, to be followed by an annual dialogue to monitor progress, report back, and re-align when needed.
Government incentives are meant to improve data sharing and develop capabilities, such as use of AI. They are considering both regulations and investments.
Further meetings are planned, as Dea has asked for GCCA to connect him with members to discuss the risk and challenges we see in the cold chain, and to get industry perspectives on how digitalization efforts have fared in places like Antwerp and Rotterdam in Europe.
