Transportation and logistics

General Industry Profile

Along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and located 1, 600 kilometres (1, 000 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean Montréal is a commercial trading platform that is conducive to shipping by land, rail, water and air. The transportation and logistics sector of Greater Montréal plays a key role throughout Canada and the Eastern seashore of North America. Furthermore, the metropolitan region was named an enviable economic alternative for serving the growing import activities of the Asian market. Multinational companies must be able to count on an efficient transportation interface and reliable providers of logistical services, consulting services, customs brokerage and transportation. This is precisely what Greater Montréal offers them, with peerless access to these services and to the major North American markets.

Key Figures

• 40 air passenger and cargo transporters connect Montréal to 120 destinations worldwide
• More than 27 million tons of freight are handled annually in the Port of Montréal (2008)
• 193,800 metric tons of air freight travel through Montréal's airports (2008)

Benefits of the Region

• The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

In addition to its strategic location, a link between North America and Europe, Greater Montréal benefits from commercial agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement facilitating the trans-border transportation of merchandise.

In addition to eliminating customs tariffs, NAFTA includes provisions in the following areas: 

• Easing control measures in order to facilitate trans-border traffic
• Protecting investment and intellectual property
• Product certification

Labour

• With eleven universities, including four major general vocational universities and numerous specialized schools and colleges, Greater Montréal has human capital that is among the most qualified and talented. Moreover, the region is first in North America for the number of university students per capita
• Greater Montréal has more than 170,000 university students, in addition to more than 120,000 college students and more than 50,000 students in professional training programs
• Montréal is truly a linguistic mosaic. More than half of its population is bilingual, speaking French and English with ease, and nearly one fifth of the population speaks at least a third language

Infrastructure

• Two international airports serve the Montréal region: Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau Airport (12.4 million passengers in 2008) and Mirabel Airport (300,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2007).
• Linked to more than 100 countries worldwide, the Port of Montréal is a world leader on the North American East coast in the field of container transportation. The point of departure with the shortest route from North America to Europe, Montréal is one of the world’s busiest inland ports and is a hub for the transatlantic transportation of merchandise. In 2008, more than 27 million tons of cargo was handled here.
• An integrated road network connects Greater Montréal to the major economic centres of North America. The North American context of deregulation ensures very competitive trucking tariffs and efficient trans-border traffic.
• An integrated rail network links Greater Montréal to all of the railroad networks of the United States and Mexico. The Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways extend over thousands of kilometres between Montréal and Vancouver and to the major American cities.

R&D

Several research centres are working towards improving transportation and logistics structures in Greater Montréal, including: 

• The CN Chair in Economics and Intermodal Transportation
• The Chair in Logistics Management
• The Canada Research Chair in Distribution
• The Canada Research Chair in Stochastic Simulation and Optimization

Incentives

The governments of Canada and Québec offer numerous tax incentives to companies in the transportation and logistics sectors, including up to 20% in tax credits for R&D from the federal government, and 17.5% from the Québec government.

In addition to the tax credits for R&D, numerous other financial and tax incentives are offered to companies. Please contact us to determine if you are eligible for one of the following programs:

• Financial aid for the creation of jobs and training
• Tax holidays for foreign experts and researchers
• Investment plan feasibility study
• Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
• Strategic Investment Support Program [Programme d’appui stratégique à l’investissement (PASI)]
• Economic Projects Support Program [Programme de soutien aux projets économiques (PSPE)]
• PR@M Industrie

Costs

According to the study Competitive Choices conducted by KPMG in 2008, Greater Montréal offers a business environment that is among the most competitive in North America. In fact, Montréal ranks first among the 20 largest centres in Canada and the United States for lowest total operating costs, taking into account labour, industrial and office space, and energy costs.

The excellent quality-to-cost ratio offered in Greater Montréal is:

• A strategic asset since selecting a location is strongly linked to the cost and especially during a period of economic downturn
• An incentive for companies that are looking for a site close to major North American markets
• A significant advantage for companies in the R&D sectors, because of the generous tax incentives offered by the Governments of Québec and Canada

Main Leaders

Several international companies offer merchandise delivery services in Greater Montréal: 

• C.H. Robinson
• FedEx Supply Chain Services
• Menlo Worldwide
• Schneider Logistics
• UPS Supply Chain Solutions