Benchmarks – September 2009

Two Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) officers working at the Port of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, have been recognized for their efforts to improve the speed of container inspection. Health Canada standards dictate that CBSA officers cannot examine marine containers until they have been adequately ventilated, a rule that has created backlogs of containers with unsafe levels of toxic fumigants at Prince Rupert and other Canadian ports. To speed the process up, CBSA officers Scott Hardy and Anthony Hague designed and constructed a new ventilation tool—called the Hardy Door—that allows air to circulate quickly and efficiently through a shipping container while protecting its contents from the elements. For this, the federal government recognized each of the officers with a Public Service Award of Excellence, the highest award a public servant can receive. “Our officers’ innovation solved a problem that was significantly impeding the processing of containers selected for examination and, at the same time, they have made an important contribution to providing a safe working environment for their co-workers,” commented Trevor Baird, CBSA’s chief of operations in Prince Rupert.

Whirlpool Corporation has named Kenco Logistic Services LLC its warehouse supplier of the year. Kenco has provided Whirlpool with warehousing, product customization, returns processing and light repair services at locations throughout Canada and the US for nearly 30 years. According to the company, Kenco exceeded expectations in all areas of third-party logistics management and service. Whirlpool has also named its less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier of the year: Con-way Freight. The carrier earned the honour by scoring highest on Whirlpool’s monthly performance reviews, which include evaluations of on-time delivery, invoicing, claims incidents and problem resolution. Con-way Freight has provided service to Whirlpool for eight years, moving LTL freight from plants to production facilities.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) has named Joel Sutherland the recipient of the 2009 Distinguished Service Award. The organization presents the award each year to an individual who has made significant contributions to the art and science of supply chain and logistics management. In 2008, Art Mesher, CEO of Waterloo, Ontario-based Descartes
Systems Group Inc, won the honour. Sutherland is managing director of Lehigh University’s Centre for Value Chain Research. Over a 30-year career in the industry, he has worked for manufacturers, wholesale distributors and third-party logistics service providers—including Transplace and Air-Road Express—in the automotive, paper and pharmaceutical sectors, to name a few. He will be presented with the award at the CSCMP’s annual global conference in Chicago, Illinois on September 21.

US-based military industrial airlift company National Air Cargo recently delivered 2,200lb of school supplies to students in Iraq on behalf of the Admiral Jeremiah Denton Foundation, an international humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to helping children and families with education, health and shelter projects. The company donated its services to arrange for the air and ground transportation of the supplies, and also secured the licenses and documentation needed to deliver the cargo to the war-torn country.

The use of low-sulphur fuel helped vehicle transportation service provider Wallenius Wilhelmsen
Logistics (WWL) reduce its CO2 emissions in grams per tonne kilometre by 6.9 percent in 2008. The fuel has allowed the company to cut its overall its CO2 output by 18.2 percent since 2004.