The results of the project are being disseminated in three different forms: through the publication of a Freight and Logistics Management Manual, through workshops, and over the internet through a project web page.

The Freight and Logistics Management Manual

The manual includes five distinct sections. The first section documents the status quo in freight planning and logistics management in Canada. We present results from a survey of freight planning authorities across Canada. The survey was conducted in fall 2007.

The second section section includes a description of current sources of freight data in Canada. The purpose of this section is to familiarize planners with currently available data, as well as the different approaches that freight planning authorities have used in developing and collecting data. The section also focuses on the limitations with data relative to the needs for planners in understanding the underlying behavioural factors influencing overall freight transportation demand.

The third section of the manual focuses on the underlying behavioural factors affecting freight demand. This includes a description and review of research on the underlying behavioural factors, and in particular, literature investigating freight mode choice. It includes information on analytical techniques used to estimate freight mode choice, ranging from methods such as cross-tabulation to discrete choice econometric methods. It further discusses the uses of the different techniques, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. Emphasis is given to techniques used in discrete choice methods.

The fourth section is intended to serve as a guide for how to apply discrete choice methods applicable to freight transportation modeling. It begins with a description of the relative merits of stated and revealed preference data. It continues with a description of the different stages required in the development and analysis of stated and revealed preference surveys.

The fifth section presents the analysis of the survey of shippers and carriers in the Quebec City - Windsor corridor. As a result, the purpose of the previous sections is to provide enough information for readers to understand and be able to apply the results of the survey. The analysis of results from the shippers and carriers survey will help planners understand the demand for freight transportation and methods to analyze the freight demand for efficient planning of transport infrastructure to facilitate smooth movement of goods across terminals and along the trade routes.

Freight Planning Workshops

The project team will hold workshops for wide distribution of the manual and training of transportation planners and infrastructure specialists. This outreach component will take the form of one-day workshops. The purpose of the workshops is to publicize the existence of the manual, but also to educated planners about the contents of the manual and the results of the survey. Naturally, the idea is that the manual can be used by planners for their future planning decisions.

The workshops are aimed at freight transportation planners and infrastructure specialists from large urban regions, provinces and the federal government. The reason for the focus on these stakeholders is the fact that the survey considers primarily intercity and interregional freight, combined with the fact that the most acute freight transportation infrastructure challenges are found in large urban centres.

As such, six  workshops are planned to take place during April and May 2008. Workshops will be held in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax.

Planners from regional planning authorities (e.g. the Greater Vancouver Regional District), provincial ministries of transportation and relevant regional representatives of the federal government have been be invited to the workshops.

Workshop Schedule

City	Date
Vancouver	Tuesday April 22, 2008
Calgary	Friday April 25, 2008
Toronto	Tuesday April 29, 2008
Montreal	Tuesday May 6, 2008
Ottawa	Thursday May 8, 2008
Halifax	Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Web Page

In order to ensure ready access to the manual, as well as to publicize the importance of behavioural underpinnings of freight transportation demand, a web page has been created for the project. The web page contains the following information. First, it provides a description of the project, what its goals were and how the entire project was undertaken. It will include a description and listing of the workshops. Second, it will contain a synopsis report of the workshops, which will include a description of the main lessons learned from the workshops. In particular, it will include a report on the issues that planners felt they needed to know the most about, as well as how the manual itself could be improved. Finally, it will include a revised version of the manual incorporating suggested changes received from the participants of the workshops.