9 minute read
Supply Chain Scan
BrightDrop vans roll off the line in Ontario
X-RAY TRIAL
Success for CBSA and UPS preclearance pilot project 8
CUTTING CO2
Transport companies lagging 10
MOVERS + SHAKERS
Appointments and promotions 11
Photo credit: Emily Atkins
DHL Express Canada will be the first Canadian customer for BrightDrop's electric Zevo 600 vans.
By Emily Atkins
ELECTRIC DELIVERY VANS made by GM subsidiary BrightDrop have begun to roll off the line in Ingersoll, Ontario.
At an official opening event on December 5 attended by prime minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario premier Doug Ford, GM and BrightDrop celebrated the reopening of GM's Cami plant, which has been retooled to make the EVs.
“Electric-vehicle manufacturing in Canada is no longer something that’s happening in the future. It’s here and it’s now. That’s good for Canada, and good for the planet,” said GM Canada president Marissa West.
The company also announced that DHL Express Canada will be its first Canadian customer. While the number of vans DHL has ordered was not disclosed, BrightDrop has already produced 155 Zevo 600s for its launch customer, FedEx. Most of those vans were delivered in the Spring of 2022, and are on the road in the US.
GM says the retooling of the Cami plant was the fastest in its history. Production on the Chevrolet Equinox SUV, which had been built at Cami since 2017, was halted in April 2022. The retooling began on May 1, and the first Zevo 600 rolled off the line in the final week of November, just seven months later.
GM spent $1 billion on the reconfiguration of the assembly facility, helped by contributions of $250 million from both the federal and provincial governments.
At the event, premier Ford called the plant a "made in Ontario" success story. He said the plant is the first step in Ontario returning to being a global vehicle manufacturing centre.
GM's strategy in developing the BrightDrop spinoff was to take advantage of the "greenspace" in the electric delivery sector, said Steven Hornylak, BrightDrop's chief commercial officer in an interview. The gambit appears to be taking off, as BrightDrop now has more than 25,000 orders and commitments from FedEx and DHL Canada along with giants like Walmart, Hertz, and Verizon.
Hornylak said that with the opening of the Cami plant, BrightDrop has more than enough capacity to meet its orders several times over. Full production is slated to begin in January, with a second shift to be added early in the year. The company currently has 400 workers trained on the highly automated line, and says it will be hiring another 1,200 in the coming year.
BrightDrop offers a suite of products including the Zevo vans, the Trace eCarts, and the BrightDrop Core software platform. A smaller Zevo 400 will be introduced next year.
Pallet inventor recognized posthumously
THE LOGISTICS HALL OF FAME has posthumously lauded The Raymond Corporation’s founder, George Raymond Sr., as an inductee for his invention of the first double-faced wooden pallet.
The organization celebrated this year’s honourees at a gala reception with German transport minister Volker Wissing on Nov. 29 in Berlin.
“It’s an honour to have our founder recognized for a pivotal innovation that changed the trajectory of the logistics industry,” said Michael Field, president and CEO of The Raymond Corporation.
“The invention of the double-faced wooden pallet centered on helping customers bring their operations to a new level of performance. Today, we continue George Raymond’s legacy by finding innovative intralogistics solutions that help customers run better and manage smarter through our lean-based approach of optimize, connect, and automate.”
Developed in the 1930s by George Raymond Sr. and his colleague, William House, the double-faced wooden pallet permits the high stacking of crushable goods. In a show of commitment to the industry, Raymond Sr. donated the patent to the industry soon after it was awarded.
“It’s incredible to see the lasting impact my grandfather had and how his spirit of innovation lives on today at The Raymond Corporation,” said Steve Raymond, retired president of Raymond Handling Concepts Corporation and grandson of Raymond’s founder.
“One hundred years later, the double-faced wooden pallet remains an industry standard, helping to transport an ever-increasing amount of goods around the globe. Thank you to the Logistics Hall of Fame for this honour."
Raymond Corporation president and CEO Michael Field accepts the award at the Logistics Hall of Fame gala in November.
CBSA and UPS conclude X-ray trial
THE CANADA BORDER SERVICES AGENCY (CBSA) and UPS Canada have concluded a pilot project to test a digital pre-screening process.
The Virtual Cargo Pre-Screening proof of concept, held from May to November 2022, provided an opportunity to enhance the way goods are risk assessed prior to their arrival in Canada.
For the proof of concept, UPS captured X-ray images of goods destined for Canada before they departed from Europe. The X-ray images were then transmitted to the CBSA Border Services Officers (BSOs) prior to arrival of the goods to Canada, along with other required pre-arrival shipment data, for use in their assessment of goods.
This gave Border Services Officers earlier access to supplemental information to aid decision-making about shipments before their arrival in Canada.
The virtual cargo pre-screening process successfully demonstrated the viability of more efficient processes for goods entering Canada. It also allowed BSOs to receive additional information about shipments before their arrival.
The pilot also tested opportunities to reduce physical touchpoints for e-commerce goods to aid in managing growing volumes. As well, it evaluated the use of X-ray images to enhance the detection of goods that are non-compliant or illicit.
“UPS Canada is proud to have partnered with the CBSA on this innovative proof of concept. As global supply chains become increasingly complex, opportunities to explore new ways to leverage technology to facilitate legitimate trade are crucial,” said Tammy Bilodeau, vice-president of customs brokerage and compliance at UPS Canada.
Lessons learned from this proof of concept project will inform the development of future commercial and trade modernization initiatives and improved border processes, CBSA said.
Air Canada invests in carbon capture startup
Carbon Engineering is developing carbon capture technology at its base in Squamish, BC. capture scalability and other initiatives for our industry. We are proud to invest in CE to further advance new, transformational technologies towards carbon removal commercially,” said Michael Rousseau, president and CEO at Air Canada.
Air Canada has committed to net-zero GHG emissions from all its global operations by 2050, with absolute mid-term GHG net reduction targets by 2030 of 20 percent from air operations and 30 percent from ground operations compared to its 2019 baseline.
AIR CANADA AND AIRBUS have announced they are investing in Canadian climate solutions company Carbon Engineering (CE).
Air Canada is making an equity investment/loan of $6.75 million, while Airbus did not disclose its level of participation.
The investment supports the advancement of CE’s Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology at the company’s research facility in Squamish, B.C.
According to CE, their process uses large fans to pull in air and then, through a series of processes, extracts the CO2 while returning the other air components to the environment. The captured atmospheric CO2 can be used to reduce aviation emissions by producing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) that can be drop-in compatible with today’s aircraft. The captured CO2 can also be safely and durably stored in geologic reservoirs to provide carbon dioxide removals that can used to offset GHG emissions.
As the aviation industry cannot capture all CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere at source, captured atmospheric CO2 can also be safely and permanently stored in geologic reservoirs. This carbon removal solution would allow the sector to extract the equivalent amount of emissions from its operations directly from the air, thereby counterbalancing residual emissions.
Under its Climate Action Plan, Air Canada has committed to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. To help achieve this goal, the company created a $50 million investment fund to support new technologies.
The $6.75 million being invested in CE comes from this fund and follows on an earlier announcement by Air Canada that it is investing US$5 million in Heart Aerospace, a Swedish company developing electric hybrid aircraft.
“We remain focused on seeking innovative, long-term, sustainable GHG emissions reduction solutions for aviation, and carbon capture is one we have outlined in our strategy to achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Last year, we became the first Canadian airline to sign an MOU with CE to explore carbon
A NEW STUDY has found that the world's transport providers are lagging on efforts to decarbonize.
The World Benchmarking Alliance’s Transport Benchmark found that only seven percent of the companies assessed have committed to phasing out their use of fossil fuels. And half (51 percent) have set net-zero targets. Across all companies, 85 percent have fleets incompatible with a low-carbon future, but the majority fail to disclose any plans for changing this.
Transport has the highest reliance on fossil fuels of all sectors, with more than 90 percent of transport energy coming from crude oil-derived products.
The comprehensive analysis of 90 companies covers 25 airlines, nine railways, six trucking companies, 17 liner shipping providers, and 33 multimodal companies.
The research was conducted in partnership with CDP, the nonprofit that runs the world's environmental disclosure system, and assessed companies including American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Ryanair, Qatar Airways, Maersk, Royal Mail and FedEx. The research uses the Assessing low-Carbon Transition (ACT) methodology that drives climate action by benchmarking companies against advanced, science-based metrics.
Credit: Photo by Martin Magnemyr, Unsplash
The research ranked the top performing companies in relation to decarbonization. Only two in the top five provide cargo-related services. The French postal service company, La Poste Groupe, has significantly reduced its overall emissions, in part due to the electrification of the company’s fleet, which reached 38 percent in 2021. Maersk is one of the few companies with a policy to engage trade associations on climate issues, and reviews its membership status annually to ensure its trade associations are in alignment with the Paris Agreement. Bringing Discipline, Structure and Visibility to the Supply Chain Almost none of the companies (only six percent) of companies provide any meaningful data on research and development into low-carbon vehicles and fuels. Some of the solutions that transport operators need to adopt, such as alternative fuels (including ammonia, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel) and cleaner vehicles (including electric trucks) are still in early development. Analysis showed that on average only 0.3 percent of total transport related revenues are invested in research and development (R&D) into low-carbon technologies and fuels, such as electric vehicles and sustainable aviation fuels. Only three out of the 90 showed any significant support for low-carbon policy, and just six directly work with infrastructure operators to build low-carbon solutions. Almost half (48 percent) of the benchmarked companies have a strategy to help customers to reduce emissions but none of the companies had set measurable targets
AUTOMATION ASSOCIATES INC. 6705 Tomken Road, Suite 211, Mississauga, Ontario L5T 2J6 for customer engagement to encourage low-carbon alternatives. “Transport accounts for 37 percent of global 905-565-6560 carbon emissions, so the sector has to step up if www.rfpathways.com we are to keep 1.5 alive," said Vicky Sins, World Benchmarking Alliance’s decarbonization and energy transformation lead.
