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7:30 AM — 6:00 PM

Registration

Location: Ballroom Foyer

Sponsored by:

8:00 — 8:45 AM

Networking Breakfast

Location: Ballroom Foyer

Sponsored by:

8:45 — 9:00 AM

Welcome Remarks

Location: Ballroom

9:00 — 9:45 AM

Opening Keynote With The Right Honorable Brian Mulroney

Location: Ballroom

The Right Honorable Brian Mulroney served as Canada’s 18th prime minister from September 1984 through June 1993. He was the first Canadian prime minister in 35 years to win successive majority governments and the first Conservative prime minister to do so in 100 years. During his 10 years in office, his government introduced bold new initiatives such as the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Canada-US Acid Rain Treaty, and the Canada-US Arctic Cooperation Agreement, while also overseeing a wave of privatizations, a low inflation policy, historic tax reform, extensive deregulation, and spending-reduction policies that continue to be the basis of Canada's impressive economic performance today. As a special keynote guest for the JOC Canada Trade Conference, Mr. Mulroney will sit down with JOC Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi to discuss the economy, Canada’s trade competitiveness in a rapidly changing environment, and other issues central to Canadian containerized supply chains.

9:45 — 10:45 AM

Market Review and Outlook:
The Canadian Container Network

Location: Ballroom

Growth in containerized cargo volumes through Canadian freight networks is shifting into a slower gear after rocketing in 2017. Even so, containerized cargo is set to keep expanding in the mid-single digits, thanks to new trade pacts and an expanding domestic economy. Year-over-year growth in imports through the top four Canadian ports slowed to 3.1 percent in 2018 after jumping 13.3 percent in 2017. Containerized exports increased 3.5 percent last year after expanding 6.5 percent in 2017. At the same time, broader Canadian economic growth is slowing, and consumer demand may weaken, putting renewed pressure on the need to better enable exports. Retail sales got off to a sluggish start in 2019, according to the Bank of Canada, while 0.1 percent growth in fourth-quarter 2018 GDP — the slowest pace in four years, has put the country on recession watch among some economists. Canada is feeling the headwinds of a slowing global economy, though the new trade agreements — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asian countries and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union — should help alleviate the pressure. This outlook on the Canadian and global economies and what it signals for containerized volume will give cargo owners, forwarders, and other transport providers a big picture view of what’s ahead.

10:45 — 11:15 AM

Networking Break

Location: Ballroom Foyer

11:15 AM — 12:15 PM

The Shipper Perspective:
Best Practices for Cargo Owners

Location: Ballroom

Often-poor ocean reliability, drayage pressure, and speed-to-market demands are keeping logistics managers, whether they ship through Canadian ports or to the country from the US — on their toes and awake at night. Canadian exporters have their own challenges, from shrinking transloading opportunities at some ports to a new trading environment marked by rising protectionism. Importers and exporters will share their challenges and share best practices they’ve utilized to solve — or at best mitigate — logistics, customs, and other challenges in keeping their containerized supply chains humming.

12:15 — 1:15 PM

Networking Lunch

Location: Ontario and Niagra

1:15  — 2:00 PM

West Coast Ports:
Relieving the Pressure Points

Location: Ballroom

The ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert may have handled peak-season and other periods of cargo surges better in 2018 than 2017, when insufficient railcars coupled with brutal weather spelled long delays, but the pressure isn’t letting up. Increasing mega-ship calls that put additional pressure on marine terminal and landside operations, double-digit volume surges during the summer-fall peak season, the run-up to Chinese New Year, and ahead of US tariff deadlines have tested operations in recent years. Trans-Pacific ocean reliability that has dipped to as low as 40 percent last year sets in motion a series of challenges to get cargo delivered, as speed-to-market pressure tied to the e-commerce boom increases for some cargo owners. Terminal capacity expansions and investment in connecting roads and railroads are part of the solution, but major capacity expansions take time, in large part because of a protracted regulatory review process. In the meantime, coordination among railroads, marine terminals, container lines, and drayage providers — powered by new technology and operating innovations — can and is at times boosting fluidity and injecting certainty into the supply chain. Cargo owners also have a part to play, from providing better forecasting to container lines to building relationships with marine terminals. For exporters, new transload opportunities are emerging, allowing grain, lumber, and other commodity shippers to better calibrate their outbound supply chains.

2:00  — 2:45 PM

East Coast Ports:
Responding to Growth Challenges

Location: Ballroom

With container volume growth at Montreal and Halifax outpacing gains on the West Coast for the last three years, Canada’s top two eastern ports have plenty of momentum. The question now is how can Montreal ensure that it’s high-single-digit volume growth, driven in part by the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union, doesn’t cost it truck and rail fluidity. Terminal expansion will help but so will the port community’s coordinated responses via extended gates. That’s not to say, however, that efforts don’t need to continue, particularly in terms of cargo owners and forwarders making more use of the non-peak terminal hours. For Halifax, container growth in 2018 may have stalled but the prospects for strong growth remain. Container volume through the Nova Scotia gateway jumped 50 percent over the last five years, and the port is expanding capacity and its ability to handle larger vessels. Both ports are investing in technology to enhance terminal effectiveness of current assets and provide transparency to transportation providers and cargo owners. This session will examine what eastern ports are doing to stay ahead of the growth curve to maintain flow and avoid painful cargo disruption.

2:45  — 3:15 PM

Networking Break

Location: Ballroom Foyer

3:15  — 4:15 PM

The ELD Effect:
Preparing for Even Tighter Truck Capacity

Location: Ballroom

The exact timing around implementation of an electronic logging device regulation may be uncertain (speculated to be sometime in late 2019), but the impact it will have on the Canadian trucking market isn’t. As US and Canadian cross-border truckers have learned when a similar rule took effect in the US, shippers should expect and plan for tighter capacity on regional hauls. Drayage drivers moving goods outside of a 100-mile radius might not be able to make as many trips before their hours of service expire, reducing effective capacity and presenting opportunities for transloading. The new ELD mandate coupled with the broader scarcity of finding skilled drivers will tighten capacity, requiring more cooperation among cargo owners and forwarders and the truckers they depend on. Tightening trucking capacity also gives railroads a stronger opening to attract that cargo to their networks. Panelists will share strategies for how cargo owners, forwarders, truckers, and marine terminals can better plan and work together to mitigate long-haul and regional drayage pressures.

4:15  — 5:15 PM

From Tech-Driven Visibility to Predictability

Location: Ballroom

Although many shippers still struggle for basic consistent information on the precise location of their in-transit cargo, the discussion around freight visibility in recent years has moved inexorably up the value chain. Whereas visibility was once viewed as a tool to manage when disruption struck, advancements in software and system integration today allow shippers to use visibility as a predictive weapon in the battle against supply chain volatility. Shippers, technology providers, and 3PLs will share their experience in moving toward an environment where cargo interests can predict and assess when problems will occur, and when freight is likely to arrive, helping them reduce inventory, manage risk and open up opportunities for working capital.

5:15 — 6:45 PM

Networking Reception

Location: Ballroom Foyer