Individual cities do not have capacity to be an inland port because a single
location has limited infrastructure and not enough volume of traffic. For example,
despite its location and size, the City of Winnipeg has been unsuccessful in
several attempts to establish an integrated road, rail and air “Inland Port” at one
location.
[...]
The Saskatchewan-based Inland Port, roughly identified by the yellow circle in
the above chart, has a very similar geographic size and configuration as the
successful Kansas City SmartPort, which is 185 miles [300 km] in diameter and
captures the assets of major highway, rail and air corridors.
It is important to remember that the Vancouver Port is composed of 41 terminal
locations across a broad geographic region. It also is not a single location. The
major cities of Moose Jaw, Regina and Saskatoon, when considered as a single
entity, provide most of the required assets and services of a “port”, albeit with a
more diffusely dispersed hinterland than the theoretical ideal.
[...]
The Progress Report of the current Prairie Gateway project, anticipated to be complete
by June 30, 2008, will include reports on a variety of important issues including:
1. A development plan for creating Federal “tax free zones” in the Inland Port region
to attract distribution centres, assembly facilities and other “port” services.
2. A ten-year export volume forecast for the major crops in Canada.
3. Promotion and public relations activities and presentations by Doug Campbell
and Agrivision in key transportation conferences, seminars, workshops and other
speaking opportunities to promote the Prairie Gateway and gather information
from other players in the North American and Global transportation supply
chains.
4. Compilation of key “drivers” for major investor / decision makers to endorse the
Prairie Gateway project.