When it comes to trucking, Western Canada is a beast. The western provinces account for 38% of the total number of the country’s owner/operators; 37% of its small for-hire carriers; 38% of its couriers and local messenger operations. Twenty five of the nation’s top 100 for-hire carriers have their headquarters in Western Canada.
Perhaps more important than the sheer size of the trucking industry that calls Western Canada home is that some of the fastest growing and most innovative carriers – operations such as Bison Transport, Mullen Transport and many others – hail from the west. The Western Canada economy is also outpacing that of the rest of the country and directly feeding the fortunes of the carriers in the west.
The belief that the Western Canada trucking industry is large enough and important enough to warrant its own publication, tailored to addressing its unique set of issues and giving voice to its own industry leaders, has been the reason we choose to publish Truck West, run by its own Western-based editor, Jim Bray.
But we have to keep feeding this beast. Its growth and dynamism demand it.
In the current issue of Truck West we’ve introduced many design and content changes to make it a better more enjoyable read for you. I would like to discuss one addition that starts with this issue that is near and dear to my heart: research.
Those of you who know me well and have invited me to speak at your events, know of my passion for accurate, timely and meaningful research about our industry. Since I took over as editorial director of our magazine group 10 years ago, we have made a concerted effort to provide such research on industry issues and trends, just as our government has been letting the industry down by severely reducing the research it conducts on the industry.
With this issue of Truck West, we are launching Inside the Numbers, a new section designed to provide research specifically tailored to the interests of the Western Canada trucking industry. This is the page you can turn to in every issue from now on for research conducted in Western Canada, addressing the direct issues and challenges faced by Western Canada carriers, shippers and owner/operators. We kick things off with a look at business projections for 2013. Have a look and let me know what you think.