B.C. truckers said a major disruption in their services, which started long before the port strike that was experienced by the region in early summer, is ongoing.
Containers are reportedly pilling up at Deltaport, with truckers saying they are unable to get them out, which in turn is racking up storage fees.
The truckers are pointing the finger at Global Container Terminals (GCT), the company that operates major port terminals in Delta and Vancouver.
“What we (have been) seeing the past couple weeks are dayshift gates and nightshift gates being closed,” Tom Johnson, KD Trucking’s president, said.
“We’ve been getting complaints from a lot of our members, frustrated obviously.”
Johnson said GCT cancelled gates for two straight days last week, which is something the company does when there’s “insufficient interest” from transporters.
Transport truckers were barred from picking up containers at the port and delivering them to customers.
“There is a demand for those containers. People need their goods. There’s a certain level of bare minimum service that the terminal needs to offer in order to run the Canadian port,” Johnson said.
GCT blames last week’s gate cancellations on the recent port workers’ strike, saying delayed cargo ships did not return.
“Last week, GCT Deltaport had zero vessels at berth. As a result, there was no purpose to hold the gates open and we have to control costs with such a significant volume drop,” Marko Dekovic, GCT’s vice-president of public affairs, said in a statement.
The BC Trucking Association said it remains to be seen whether foreign shipments diverted to U.S. ports during the strike will ever return to B.C.
“We get very concerned when there are labour disruptions, when there are increases to costs, when there’s different taxation principals.… All of these things contribute to the competitiveness, or lack thereof, of the port and we keep a very close eye on that,” said Dave Earle, BC Trucking Association’s president and CEO.
Earle said with every delay, local businesses are the ones bearing the brunt of the costs.