FREDERICTON — Four main issues are expected to dominate transportation concerns during the next few decades and a continental view – rather than national – will help carriers succeed.

Energy and fuel costs, labor availability, environmental concerns and government red tape will all influence the structure and effectiveness of the continental transportation system, according to Mary Brooks, professor of marketing and transportation and William A. Black chairman of the commerce department at Dalhousie University.

Envisioning what the transportation sector in North America will look like in 2030 will help businesses make long-term plans, said Brooks.

"Businesses have to make long-term investments and sometimes those investments have to have a 20 or 30 year lifespan, they want to know whether or not to make those very big investments going forward," she said. "We’re trying to think very big picture as opposed to what’s going to happen next year."

Brooks was part of the Canadian Transportation Research Forum’s annual conference which descended on Fredericton last week for “Envisioning a North American Freight
System in 2030.”

The group of transportation industry experts and academics from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico were hoping to explore an outline of opportunities and challenges which will transform the transportation of goods throughout North America over the next 22 years.

Stephen Blank, a retired Pace University professor and a North American transportation and energy consultant, said Canadians should be concerned about continental rather than simply national transportation issues because of the fundamental changes to the country’s economy as a result of North American free trade initiatives.

"There’s congestion, inadequate maintenance, a lack of harmonized regulations, hardening of the border, a variety of issues that all came at the same time,” said Blank, who is also co-chairman of the North American Transportation Competitiveness
Research Council. "We have to think about how we grow the system again and rejuvenate it."