Dear CargoM members and partners,
As this year draws to a close, we are pleased to share with you the latest news from the Cluster.
We had a busy fall with two major events. The first, on September 30, was the Innovation and the Impact of E-commerce on the Logistics Industry Conference held in collaboration with CEFRIO. During the event, Wiptec and Drakkar announced a $150 million investment in an e-commerce logistics centre in Longueuil. The one-million square foot e-commerce order fulfillment centre project will employ about a thousand workers. The second event, on November 5, was the fourth edition of CargoM Career Day. Held at the Port of Montreal’s Grand Quay, the event brought together over sixty member companies and partners. It was a great success and attracted nearly 1,500 participants. You can read all about both events in this newsletter.
Over the past few months, we have been busy developing our new strategic plan. This provided an opportunity for the Cluster to take stock of its activities and carry out a satisfaction survey of its members, which foundd that 93% of them believe in the relevance of our mission. We also organized workshops on our main structuring themes. All these consultations made it possible to determine the action plan for 2020-2022. We would like to thank all the members of CargoM who participated, directly or indirectly, in its production. We will present our new strategic plan at our Annual General Meeting in June.
As you may already know, Magali Amiel, Director of Strategy and Projects, who worked at CargoM for over six years, recently accepted a new challenge as Transport Leader at Decathlon. Magali had been with us since the inception of CargoM and greatly contributed to its success. We salute her involvement, dedication and passion for our sector. We wish her all the best in her new position. We are confident that there will be many opportunities to work closely with Magali in the coming years. To assist our team, we are pleased to inform you that we have recruited Lori Nelis as Project Manager. Ms. Nelis recently completed her MBA in International Logistics Management at HEC Montreal. Lori, welcome to the CargoM team!
CargoM represented its members on several occasions in recent months. We were honoured to have been invited to the First International Innovation 4.0 Forum as one of the speakers. The event was an occasion to address the various technologies of Industry 4.0. We would like to thank Mr. Hany Moustapha, Director of the Innovation Cluster 4.0 at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), for this great opportunity! We also presented CargoM at an American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) seminar on communications and marketing. Thank you to Mr. Aaron Ellis for the invitation and congratulations to Sophie Roux and Mélanie Nadeau of the Montreal Port Authority for hosting the event.
With a view to constantly improving our logistics chain and better understanding the issues it faces, CargoM has commissioned the management consulting firm CPCS to compile a portrait of the cold chain. This study will aim to develop a detailed understanding of the Greater Montreal cold chain. A first step will be to assess the growth of refrigerated container volumes and then define and characterize all segments of the cold chain involved in international shipping. The results of this study will be released by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
Having received rave reviews, we are delighted to confirm that Industry 4.0 visits will be on the Cluster’s agenda in 2020. Stay tuned for more information! In addition, we are pleased to announce the arrival of two new members within the Cluster: JF Hillebrand Canada inc. and the Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
Lastly, the entire CargoM team takes this opportunity to wish you a great holiday season! We look forward to seeing you in 2020.
Happy reading!
Mathieu Charbonneau
Executive Director, CargoM