As Appeared in First Monday – March 2016
Sarnia Lambton Industrial Alliance (SLIA), is a not-for-profit industrial cluster with over 35 member companies employing over 2,400 skilled trades and professionals. The volunteer Chairman is Rick Perdeaux, of Toolrite Engineering. SLIA has been working closely with municipal partners to develop an improved route to the Sarnia Harbour. This will be accomplished through infrastructure improvements to existing roads. It is intended to benefit, not only the members of the group and their employees, but the region in general.
Local member and non-member fabrication firms have world class skills and abilities that are in demand both domestically and around the world. The specialized equipment modules, pressure vessels etc. that they build, with the assistance of a huge local supply chain, are used in oil, petro-chemical, bio-chemical, mining, energy generation, ship building and many other industries. Many of these items are too large to ship by train or conventional truck load. When shipping by water, however, size is not an issue. The challenge is getting the equipment from the fabrication site to the ship, at the least possible cost, while creating as little disruption as possible to local traffic and preventing accidents such as the one that occurred on Hwy #402 and Indian Road.
The answer, is to create a dedicated “Oversized Load” route that connects fabrication firms in Sarnia, Corunna and Brigden to the Sarnia Harbour. The route would be improved so that overhead utility wires are either buried or raised to a suitable clearance. Traffic and street lights would be improved so that they can easily swing away, grades and corners are “softened”, culverts re-inforced for heavy loads etc. Presently, these obstructions must be temporarily raised or disconnected and then re-installed in the former manner at great cost. This cost must be paid with each load. Temporary accommodations also result in service disruptions to local residents and businesses as well as lengthy traffic detours. Once the route improvements are done, permitting will be simplified, shipments will move quickly along the route and shipments will be timed to minimize traffic disruption, even moving large loads through the night.
The resultant cost savings will allow fabricators to bid successfully on contracts they are shut out of currently due to the high local shipping costs. The route will work both ways – in and out. As such, it will be an incentive for large industry to expand their existing operations, or new ones to locate here, especially where importation of large equipment is required.
Both the Federal and Provincial governments have programs to assist with infrastructure improvements. For the City and County to qualify for this infrastructure funding, SLIA learned that an independent analysis by qualified consultants to verify the job retention and creation potential of the project will be needed. They will also need a detailed estimate of the costs of the improvements. SLIA has taken up the challenge to get these reports completed to hand over to their municipal partners. They have successfully obtained commitments of partial funding for the studies from the City and County and have raised nearly $60,000. from their membership and supporters. Requests to large manufacturers and refiners in the county have resulted in moral support, but no financial support, as yet. Funds raised are enough to allow the detailed cost estimate (Engineering Study) to be tendered and awarded. There is almost enough to cover the job creation (Business Case) study as well. They are working hard to raise the remainder from local industry, labour and Provincial funding programs.
Step by step, they are working to make the oversized load corridor a reality for the benefit of all.
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