System Wide Logistics Performance Measurement

Vijay Gill

Transport Canada measures the performance of transportation carriers on an annual basis through a number of performance metrics. These include temporal Partial and Total Factor Productivity (PFP and TFP) indexes as well as price and unit cost indicators.

More recently, Transport Canada has engaged in the development of system wide indicators that span across multiple modes. Included is the development of a Total Logistics Cost indicator. This indicator aims to estimate the impact of transit time and volatility on inventory and safety stock for both import and export freight movements. The resulting costs will be converted to an index in order to provide a view of performance over time.

While shippers have been using logistics cost models for many years now, the development of a similar methodology at the aggregate level is a more recent phenomenon. The resulting performance metrics will aide in the policy making process and provide some insight regarding the degree of success of government policies and spending in transportation and infrastructure. This session will share details on the objectives of the project while inviting feedback from participants.