REGINA, Sask. — A meeting of transportation and logistics professionals was held here yesterday to flush out a vision of establishing the region as a global transportation hub.

The Global Transportation Hub Authority (GTHA) Board of Directors held its first meeting yesterday.

“We have assembled a diverse group of men and women with impeccable credentials in transportation logistics and international trade,” GTHA Chair Wayne Elhard said. “With people whose names are instantly recognized in the international business community, the Global Transportation Hub (GTH) vision will quickly become a reality.”

Elhard said the board will plan, develop, construct, operate and manage the Global Transportation Hub. Other board members include:  Captain Gordon Houston (vice chair), former president and CEO of Port Metro Vancouver; Mayo Schmidt, president and CEO of Viterra; Louis Ranger, former deputy minister, Transport Canada; Marcella Szel, Q.C., former v.p., marketing and sales, Canadian Pacific Rail; Lionel LaBelle, president and CEO, Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership; and Ron Dedman, Deputy Minister, Government Services, Government of Saskatchewan.

The board plans to establish Regina as a major Western Canadian transportation and logistics centre. Among the initiatives already underway is the construction of a new one million square foot Loblaw’s distribution centre. Other plans include ramping up rail capacity and improving supply chain access and efficiency.

CPR is building a new state-of-the-art intermodal facility as part of the project, which will replace its current downtown Regina facility. The new facility will increase container capacity to about 250,000 TEU lifts per year. New interchanges, highway connectors and access roads are being constructed at a cost of $167 million. And discussions are  underway with a number of trucking and logistics firms, according to stakeholders.

For more info, visit www.gtha.ca.