Transport 411



	6^th Annual Canadian Transportation Benchmarking Survey
	Organized by the research firm G. Bramm and Associates for Canadian Transportation & Logistics magazine, in partnership with the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association (CITA) and the Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation (CITT), this survey aims to analyse seven Key Performance Indicators covering the services offered by Canadian carriers across all transportation modes. As well as establishing the performance of carriers, the survey recognizes the best Canadian suppliers for every transportation mode. Results will then be published in the August 2007 Shipper's Choice Award edition of CT&L magazine. Canadian shippers are invited to fill out an online survey, at the address below, where they can choose their selection criteria for each transportation mode and thus evaluate the three best suppliers. Later on, respondents can give information about their enterprise, with the understanding that all answers will be held in the strictest confidence. Respondents who complete the survey may also register for a prize draw of $500 and $200 gift certificates from Future Shop, or an electronic copy of the survey highlights prior to publication. _______________________________ Source : QuestionPro.com

	Strong Showing by TransForce in 2006
	In a press release issued in February 2007, the TransForce Income Fund announced yet again outstanding financial results for the last quarter as well as for the year ended December 31, 2006. The Fund experienced a 9% growth during the fourth quarter, closing at $456.8 million, compared with $418.8 million at the same period last year. TransForce's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) grew 12% to $65.8 million for the quarter, compared to $59.0 million for the same quarter in 2005. After selling the hazardous waste management subsidiary, Services Matrec Inc., for the sum of $29.5 million, the Fund declared a special distribution of 0.0155 additional trust units for each unit in circulation, valued at $0.2069 per unit. TransForce also acquired two businesses in Western Canada. Byers Transportation Services Inc. was acquired during the last quarter of 2006, while Westfreight Systems inc., a carrier specialized in over-dimensional and heavy haul transportation servicing the oil and gas industry, was acquired by the Fund in the first quarter of 2007, however the announcement was made in the previous quarter. TransForce has increased the regular monthly distribution from $0.1275 per unit to $0.1325 per unit, a rate increase from $1.53 to $1.59 per unit. TransForce ended the 2006 fiscal year with record revenues of $1.8 billion, an increase of 21% from over the previous year. EBITDA for 2006 was also a record at $241.7 million, a 24% increase over 2005. _______________________________ Source : TransForce

	Major Investments in Quebec's Road Network
	The Quebec government will be investing close to 8 billion dollars in the province's road system. The announcement was made on January 24, 2007, by Quebec Transport Minister and Minister responsible for the Capital region, Mr. Michel Després, and the Minister delegated to Transport and Minister responsible for the Mauricie region, Mrs. Julie Boulet. Both Ministers announced exceptional efforts aiming not only to slow down the deterioration of the Quebec road system, but also improve its overall quality. The plan calls for investments of 1.7 billion dollars as of 2007-2008, as well as additional investments of 166 million dollars from municipalities and the Canadian government. During this timeframe, sums will be used to ensure the conservation of infrastructures (440 million dollars) and road ways (450 million dollars), as well as developing (550 million dollars) and improving (260 million dollars) the network. _______________________________ Source : Government of Quebec


	Mr. André Bourassa, P. Log., President and CEO, Trans Global Logistique Inc.
	After over 25 years at UPS SCS/Starber Fritz, Mr. Bourassa is now president and chief executive officer of Trans Global Logistique Inc., a firm specialised in dedicated maritime transport, special projects and training in international commerce.

	Mr. Daniel Mc Innis, Vice-President, CAL-Quebec
	Mr. Mc Innis has been elected Vice-Président of the Quebec Chapter of Supply Chain and Logistics Canada. He remains President and CEO of AlioSoft Inc., a software development firm providing software solutions to the transportation and logistics industries. Please send us your notices of appointment at info@transport411.com

	Finance your Working Capital Effectively! by Clément F. Paré, Regional Account Executive, J D Factors clement@affacturage.ca
	Today's transportation companies face increasing cash flow requirements, and many of them would gladly do without accounts receivable that don't get resolved after 30 or 45 days, or more! Under those circumstances, factoring may be the best way to increase their working capital. Factoring is a means of commercial financing whereby accounts receivable are sold (e.g., by a carrier, in the form of invoices) at a discount to a factor (a factoring service provider). The discount usually varies between 2% and 5% of an invoice, depending on industry standards. The factoring services may be dispensed on an ongoing or occasional basis, depending on the seller's cash flow needs, and may cover all or part of a seller's accounts receivable. Also, factors usually don't impose financing limits: if the accounts receivable increase, so to does the financing. As well as improving one's working capital, factoring may offer the following advantages to carriers: immediate cash flow in the pursuit of growth, benefit of supplier discounts in exchange for rapid payment, improved credit rating, elimination of bad debts, reduced cost of sales administration, improved accounts receivable turnover, and better client credit information. When other forms of financing are unavailable, factoring can be a very flexible tool for growing businesses and start-ups, and there are a variety of factoring solutions in Canada: recourse factoring, non recourse factoring, discount factoring, factoring with credit margin, spot factoring, and factoring involving accounts receivable management. These methods may vary among factoring suppliers and also depend on the business context. Recourse factoring, which is one of the most widespread solution available, requires that the seller (e.g., a carrier) pay the factor in case the debtor (e.g., the shipper) is unable to pay. The factoring service provider may then require to be paid in cash or in further invoices. Note that because recourse factoring assumes no risk on their part, factors will charge a lower discount for the purchase of accounts receivable than they would for non recourse factoring. For more information about factoring, please visit the following Web sites: http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/sof-sdf.nsf/en/so01883e.html http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/sme_fdi-prf_pme.nsf/en/00645e.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoring_%28finance%29 http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073924180#



	Are you Inquisitively Inclined?
	If you're the type of person that can't help looking up something the minute a question springs to mind, then you must visit the www.fouineux.com Web site! There you'll find a wide assortment of linguistic, search and localisation tools. And although many of them are specific to francophones living in the province of Quebec, many of them can appeal to all Internet users. Linguistic tools include general dictionaries, thesauri, grammatical troubleshooting, verb conjugators, translators, encyclopaedias, and various English-specific tools. Search tools include general search engines (such as Google), image and video search engines, music search engines, recipes search engines, and classified ads. As for localisation tools, they facilitate the search for people, businesses, emergency services, cinemas, urban services, and maps. The Internet is replete with useful general information or information relating to the field of transportation. We've selected a small subset of links that you might find interesting that we will be presenting regularly in this section of our newsletter. To browse these links, visit the Resources section of Transport411.com. There, you'll find the address for www.fouineux.com by going to the Resources section, in the Internet Services subsection, under Search Tools.



	What Good Is Morality?
	To brighten up your day, here's our monthly funny video. This month, we're examining the vertues of morality, in particular, the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Here's a relevant example. :o] Double-click on the image to start the video If you can’t see the animation above, download Quicktime by clicking here _______________________________ Credits — Client: Hershey's. Agency: N/A.