The Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba and TransCore Link Logistics are teaming up to conduct research on transportation trends in the Canadian trucking industry.
The two will use data from TransCore's Loadlink freight matching service, which generates more than 3 million freight matches a day.

"This report will provide visibility into emerging trends that are developing or declining and enable us to share this information with our broker and carrier members," said Claudia Milicevic, general manager of TransCore.

The Loadlink service contains information on over 5,000 transportation companies in Canada, which have access to invoice factoring, credit bureau reports, satellite truck and trailer tracking, breakdown services, truck-specific routing and mileage, online recruitment, fuel discount program, ACE border crossing service, and dispatch and operations management.

"TransCore provides a unique visibility into the actual movement of freight in Canada and the United States and a fleet's usage of technology," said Paul Larson, director of the Transport Institute.

The Canadian for-hire carrier market (about 10,000 fleets), is mostly made up of small size carriers. These 6,900 small carriers each operate less than 10 trucks and rake in less than $1 million annually. The market also includes 3,300 medium size carriers, with operating fleets of ten to 200 tractors. The top 100 carriers that take in revenues of over $25 million a year boast fleet sizes of over 200 tractors.

The Transport Institute's past research includes the "Proposed Innovative Freight Practices" project, which looked at route optimization, emission reduction and energy conservation.

For more information, visit umanitoba.ca/faculties/management/ti or www.transcore.com.