The supply chain is undermined: stocks are scarcer and prices higher. In addition, we are witnessing an increase in transportation costs, but also a decrease in available storage space.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
We measure the consequences of our vulnerability every day, which greatly calls into question the conservation of our supplies, thus becoming a definitive issue for the purchasing power of Quebecers.
It is clear that the supply chain is under pressure. Whether it is the actors of the St. Lawrence and Saguenay waterways, the entire road network directly connected to the Ontario and American highway systems, the border crossings, the rail networks or even the three international airports, including the one intended exclusively for freight, each of these links faces immense challenges.
This supply chain enables the 10,000 exporting companies to open up to the world and the 30,000 importing companies to source raw materials. However, due, among other things, to the pandemic linked to COVID-19 and the instability of the world economic markets, the fluidity of this chain is, more than ever, undermined.
Never have we heard so much about supply chain and logistics.
In Quebec, we are fortunate to have this exceptional channel, which also deserves exceptional attention in this period of upheaval.
This is why we, Manufacturers & Exporters of Quebec, CargoM, a major player in the Montreal logistics chain, and the Saint-Laurent Economic Development Corporation, which represents the maritime industry in Quebec, are all determined to find and develop together solutions to current challenges. However, we must be able to count on the cooperation of the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada.
Quick set up
For greater fluidity of goods, we recommend that all government authorities quickly implement actions that will not only have an impact in the current context, but also in the longer term, because it would be illusory to believe that the current pressure is only cyclical and temporary.
For us, it seems a priority to develop transshipment centers along the St. Lawrence to allow the transfer of goods and avoid congestion. It is also urgent to invest in rail, maritime and road infrastructures so that they are competitive with what is being done elsewhere in the world while promoting the implementation of technological solutions to optimize the flows of the chains. logistics.
At the same time, the training offer must be adapted to better equip today’s workforce and tomorrow’s employees to use new technologies.
We have a duty to turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities.
The links are strong. Make sure the chain stays in place. It concerns all of us.
*Mathieu Charbonneau, General Manager, CargoM, and Mathieu St-Pierre, President and CEO, Saint-Laurent Economic Development Corporation (SODES)