As part of Alberta Chemistry Day, Oksana Exell, president and CEO of WESTAC, moderated a panel exploring how transportation affects industry in Western Canada with Chris Beringer, Director of Transportation Solutions for the Government of Alberta, and Tim Stauft, Chief Commercial Officer for Nauticol Energy.

Ms. Exell set the tone by sharing some of the key findings of WESTAC’s initial Compass Report which highlighted the most pressing risks and opportunities in the transportation industry today. She also highlighted the three Cs that executives identified as key to industry’s health and competitiveness: communication, collaboration and capacity.

Left to right: Oksana Exell, president and CEO of WESTAC, Tim Stauft, Chief Commercial Officer for Nauticol Energy and Chris Beringer, Director of Transportation Solutions for the Government of Alberta

The panel dug into the unique opportunities and challenges Western Canadian offers, the importance of building flexibility into transportation networks and the challenge of balancing the need for certainty.

The panel made it clear that there is not one simple measure for ensuring capacity to move goods to markets. All stakeholders throughout the supply chain have a role to play to ensure that Canada is a competitive environment for many diverse industries.

As we await the next round of successful Petrochemical Diversification Program candidates to be announced and anticipate increased shipments, reliable transportation of goods is an important topic for our industry and partners. For those interested in sharing their views, WESTAC is currently in the process of running their second survey of leaders and invites interested leaders to participate.

We also look forward to learning more about your specific trends in the CIAC’s year-end survey, which will have a section on transportation trends. Stay tuned for more information on that in the coming weeks.