Steel buildings are a perfect solution to an industrial building requiring any size of the crane, whether they are top running, underhung, monorails or jib cranes. Frames can easily be designed to suit top running cranes, utilizing either corbels (brackets on columns), stepped crane columns, or independent crane columns. Typically, cranes with a 20 ton or less capacity can be supported by brackets welded to the columns. Heavier cranes will likely require stepped or independent crane columns.
Happy New Year to all from The AMBA Board of Directors! Entering a new year gives us all the opportunity to reflect on the past year and make plans for the coming year. The current economic climate in Alberta has been a difficult one. With two recent elections, we are likely to see more change ahead. There appear to be glimmers of hope for the energy sector with Trans Mountain and Energy East Pipeline construction progressing. Hopefully, this will motivate business owners to loosen the purse strings and start investing capital into new infrastructure.
Much has been said, and certainly written, about the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and what it will mean to the Alberta economy. Although construction has resumed, it remains an uphill battle.
Despite the mass exodus of energy companies, either fleeing or ceasing operations, there has been some good news for the sector. Inter Pipeline plans to spend $935M on the Heartland Petrochemical Complex in 2020 and on the heels of the elimination of curtailments on conventional drilling, CNRL announced an increase in their 2020 investment budget of $250M. Although a paltry sum when you look at total capital expenditures, it is somewhat reassuring that there is still hope for our staggering energy sector.
Both RBC and ATB recently cut Alberta’s real GDP growth in half for 2019, with projected growth somewhere between 0.6 and 0.7 percent, behind all other provinces. Growth for 2020 is expected to be between 1.6 to 2.4 percent, still well below trend. Table 1, below, revealed the impact of oil production cuts and a reduction in energy investment on provincial GDP. Although gloomy, we will likely avoid dipping into another recession. Economic growth continues to be hampered by pipeline restrictions, a reduction in capital expenditures and low natural gas prices. Non-residential construction investment is expected to decline 0.9%. A provincial corporate income tax rate cut from 12% to 8% over the next four years may stimulate capital investment over the short to mid-term.
I am pleased to announce that after your request at the AGM to have additional training available we were successful in getting Metl-Span to host a training course in Edmonton this summer. I believe in talking to Metl-Span this could become a regular thing if the interest is there. We need to ensure that we fill the class and the AMBA board will continue with ongoing discussions with Metl-Span.
Marijuana has become a legal substance in Canada. So naturally many employees want to use it recreationally. This can become an issue at work as the THC builds up in a persons system and if a drug test is required the result is positive test readings even though a person is not actually impaired at the time of the test.
Our current business outlook is not very optimistic with regard to new construction. The oil sector is in limbo and until we see a change in the current governments, both provincially and federally, I do not see this improving. We will continue to see projects being priced, as in the past, but the placing of orders will likely remain somewhat dormant until there is confidence in our newly elected officials. As well, the uncertainty of the market due to the fact that we are now facing dumping charges on imports of offshore steel products. I am sure that in order to gain favor with the electorate there will be a number of announcements of projects over the next while to try and sway voters (my personal views).
