HAMILTON, Ont. — The interim president and CEO of Purolator says the express delivery industry is seeing encouraging signs of a strengthening economy.

"We’re in the sweet spot at the onset of a new business cycle," Bill Henderson told delegates at the Translog 2010 conference last week in Hamilton.

He said the movement of goods has been growing steadily in almost every industry his company serves since February 2010.

"I can tell you, from where I sit, I see numerous, numerous signs that the economy is rebounding," he said. "You could say the stock market sounds pretty bad and things are still a little tough. The express industry — it doesn’t matter if it’s Purolator or FedEx, UPS, Canpar, or DHL because we carry goods for virtually every industry (other than heavy manufacturing, oil, and housing) — all of us have noticed an increase this year in goods being moved."

Hendson said the express delivery industry is typically a bellwether of the economy, noticing changes earlier than most industries.

"We’ve been seeing some strength after February," he said. "January was soft, but we’re now seeing more strength in this economy than we’ve seen since the spring of ’08, which is very encouraging."

As interim president and CEO of Purolator, Henderson is also responsible for Purolator’s operations division.

He’s a director of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a director of the Canadian Courier Logistics Association, a member of the Manitoba International Gateway Council, and a patron member of the Canadian-American Border Trade Alliance.