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Edmonton Company Positions Itself for Access To Asian Markets

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As Prince George makes an effort to get a piece of the Prince Rupert Port, this story appeared in Business Edge,  an on line  version of the print publication.  Business Edge is based in Calgary and  publishes bi-weekly in B.C., Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and 40 times a year in Alberta.  For further information on this article, or Business Edge, please contact info@businessedge.ca

MTE Logistix undergoes major expansion  (reprinted by permission )
By Laura Severs - Business Edge 

The demand for moving goods has an Edmonton-based company stepping up to the plate.

MTE Logistix Inc., in operation for 80 years, just opened a new warehouse and a nearby inland container port. Both facilities are filling needs to meet increased demands in a booming Alberta economy and to help the province connect with Asian markets.

The warehouse operation, which MTE says is actually the province's first all-inclusive transload facility and drayage (local cartage of containers) service, is now part of 10 buildings the company operates in the city.  It also has buildings and operations in Calgary and Vancouver.

"MTE is a third-party logistics provider, which basically means we perform the distribution function for manufacturers who choose to outsource their distribution needs to us," says company chairman and CEO Bob Carwell, noting that the products it handles range from beer to electronics, personal items, household detergents and hundreds of other consumer goods.

"Business is good. We need more space and to consolidate some of our operations as well. We've grown quite quickly based on 50,000 sq. ft. or 60,000 sq. ft. at a time and we want to consolidate in larger buildings," adds Carwell. "As of yet we have not closed the smaller buildings, we still have need of them. This (the newer warehouse) in many ways is an expansion of what we're doing."

The company sees opportunities in forestry and other sectors (possibly appliances and household products). "It's definitely a situation where we are expanding. We see a lot of work."

The transload facility is a 300,730-sq.-ft. building in the city's northwest that is less than five minutes away from CN's Edmonton intermodal terminal. But it's much more than just a warehouse, says MTE's Dennis Nolin, the company's president and COO. Nolin notes the "futuristic" building has 20 rail doors and 30 truck doors. "It's the only facility in Edmonton with 20 rail doors, allowing for a railroad boxcar to come in. We can bring 20 boxcars in at once. There is one
rail siding that will accommodate 20 boxcars," says Nolin.

"When I say futuristic, it's also somewhat generic in the sense that it's long and generally narrow and it allows us to transload truck to rail or vice versa," he adds.
The 28-foot high building also includes 10,000 sq. ft. of office space, of which 6,000 sq. ft. is available to MTE clients who can rent offices to have their own people on site. "Some people locate their regional offices with us in our buildings - it can be their sales or marketing staff. We lease out the office space for
customers who require a regional office close by," says Nolin.

Meanwhile, the nearby inland container port, also less than five minutes away from CN's intermodal terminal but in the opposite direction, occupies 10 acres of land.

"We're using 10 acres to start with and we have future expansion capabilities on that site, to whatever our needs are," says Nolin. While there's only a small office at the inland container port, the key component is that the site is able to handle massive ocean shipping containers. A heavily compacted yard allows the land to withstand loads in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. "It's a yard where we store ocean shipping containers (known as TEUs, or twenty-foot-equivalent units)," says Nolin.

"The machines we use in there are called container handlers and reach stackers. These machines are capable of stacking containers five high. We have empty-reach stackers capable of picking up 15,000 pounds and we have a loaded-reach stacker capable of picking up 90,000 pounds and stacking them five high."

Even though the newest parts of MTE give the company more than 1.3 million sq. ft. of warehouse space in Edmonton, the firm is still looking for additional locations. "Certainly in the short term we will be seeking more space. We will fill the space we have first, but it won't be long before we're looking for additional space," says Carwell.

Carwell notes the inland port will help both the province and Edmonton participate in the Pacific Gateway Initiative - a strategy to improve transportation corridors and reduce bottlenecks to better tap into Asian trade opportunities - and the company will work in collaboration with CN Rail and the Port of Prince Rupert to increase the business going through the port.

"Our container-handling facility will handle both inbound and outbound containers and CN is looking at Prince Rupert to be another gateway to Asia," says Carwell.

The company has made a substantial investment in the inland container port. "In particular, we see that the container movement has exploded over the
last five years and we see the strategic opportunity right here in the City of Edmonton," adds Nolin.

Nolin says MTE saw a great chance to move forward with the transload facility. "With a new container port at Prince Rupert coming on stream, we just felt
there was a huge opportunity and this building suited us to a 'T,' " he notes. Both facilities are close to major highways - the Yellowhead, and the
Anthony Henday ring road - as well as CN's rail operations.

(Laura Severs can be reached at  laura@businessedge.ca )



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