Canada better ramp up infrastructure to meet Chinese trade demand: CTA

BEIJING, China — Canada better put its money where its mouth is if it hopes to boost trade with China over the next decade, says the chief of the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

The Canadian government’s bid to be the gateway for Asian trade to North America is welcome news to the Canadian trucking industry, says CTA CEO David Bradley, but the government better sink its teeth into a better transportation system if it wants to meet that increased demand.

Canada’s gateway plan is set to materialize thanks to an agreement between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, made during the Chinese president’s recent visit to Canada. The two leaders agreed to double trade between China and Canada over the next five years. President Hu also endorsed the Canadian government’s new trade strategy.

“More trade means more freight for truckers, but the transportation system in Canada is already strained and in need of new investment in capacity across all modes,” said Bradley, at a conference in Beijing this week as a guest of the Chinese Road Transport Association, the international road union and the Chinese Ministry of Communications.

“What is the strategy and, most importantly, how much money is the federal government prepared to invest? Or is Canada prepared to remain the only major industrialized country on the planet not to have a national highway policy, for example?”

China has built about 35,000 km of new highway capacity in the last 10 years and has committed to building another 85,000 km over the next 20 years, noted Bradley, adding: “Our highways and our ports don’t have the capacity to compete unless we get serious.”

There is much the Chinese trucking industry can learn from Canadian carriers, Bradley said: “We have had to cover long distances, to cross borders and to compete with the world’s other economic giant.”