{"id":66867,"date":"2020-06-30T09:17:15","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T13:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=66867"},"modified":"2020-12-09T11:01:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:01:09","slug":"niagara-community-observatory-explores-challenges-opportunities-in-local-transportation-and-logistics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2020\/06\/niagara-community-observatory-explores-challenges-opportunities-in-local-transportation-and-logistics\/","title":{"rendered":"Niagara Community Observatory explores challenges, opportunities in local transportation and logistics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Government and private sector groups should collaborate on imaginative ways to help commercial vehicles bypass the increasingly congested QEW between Niagara and Toronto, suggests new research from Brock University\u2019s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One possibility suggested creating a ferry service for trucks that would \u201cget them off the road and onto the water,\u201d enabling them to reach Oshawa without going through the Golden Horseshoe, says the NCO\u2019s latest policy brief.<\/p>\n

This is one of several recommendations made in \u201cNiagara\u2019s Transportation and Logistics Sector: Becoming a Global Economic Lynchpin,\u201d to be released<\/a> next week.<\/p>\n

NCO Director and brief author Charles Conteh will be presenting the policy brief followed by a panel discussion at a virtual event on Tuesday, July 7 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. via Microsoft Teams. Those interested in attending should register by emailing cphillips3@brocku.ca<\/a> by noon on Monday, July 6. Registrants will receive a link before the event.<\/p>\n

The brief provides a bird\u2019s eye view of Niagara\u2019s transportation and logistics industry with the aim of \u201cleveraging its assets\u201d to not only successfully overcome the challenges of a rapidly-changing Niagara economy, but hook into new and emerging opportunities, says Conteh, Associate Professor in Brock\u2019s Department of Political Science.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sector plays a foundational role as an all-purpose platform sector in the region\u2019s economic competitiveness,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is the one sector that Niagara wants to invest in from the standpoint of job creation and job security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conteh calls the sector a \u201cworkhorse\u201d that facilitates the movement of goods and people by road, rail and water, connecting Niagara with the U.S. and the rest of the world and providing a stable workplace consisting of a range of white collar, blue collar and \u201cno collar\u201d jobs.<\/p>\n

The transportation and logistics sector is doing well, with Niagara\u2019s top three employers in the sector being in the areas of general freight trucking, freight transportation arrangement and specialized freight trucking, with a total of 3,012 jobs in 2019. Additionally, from 2011 to 2019, the number of jobs in scenic and sightseeing land transportation grew 1,286 per cent.<\/p>\n

Compared to the regions of Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto and London, Niagara has a near-monopoly in the areas of deep sea, coastal and Great Lakes water transportation and scenic and sightseeing water and land transportation, says the brief.<\/p>\n

The brief also points out the sector\u2019s challenges, including a frequently bottlenecked QEW, the growth of automated driving capacities, drone technologies and robotic systems, and a labour pool shortage due to young workers leaving the area and pursuing opportunities in more knowledge-intensive and service-based fields.<\/p>\n

In addition to offering a ferry service for trucks wishing to avoid Toronto-Niagara traffic congestion, the brief puts forth several other recommendations to help the transportation and logistics sector survive and thrive, including:<\/p>\n