It’s rare that a story will dominate transportation headlines for three weeks in a row. However, because of the Freedom Convoy 2022, here we are again talking about the new driver vaccine mandate at Canada US border. If you’re not caught up with the story you can read about the controversy and confusion leading up to the mandate HERE, and the initial fallout that occurred last week HERE.

As a brief refresher: on January 15th new rules from the Canadian government came into effect which forced all Canadian unvaccinated truck drivers crossing the border to be vaccinated, less they face a two-week quarantine upon their return. There was a large amount of pushback from industry groups and cross-border carriers to leave truck drivers exempt from the mandate in order to keep the already stressed supply chain from experiencing any more disruptions. For a moment, a few days before the mandate came into effect, the Canada Border Security Agency (CBSA) even put out a statement saying that truckers would be exempt from the mandate, though the federal government walked with statement back within a day and the mandate came into effect as scheduled. When the rule came into effect there were immediate protests and a large “Freedom Convoy” of truckers heading to Ottawa to voice their disdain was quickly organized.

The protest gets rolling

The protest started in western Canada and picked up more drivers as it moved east. The convoy has stopped in a few cities to hold demonstrations, but most of the protest has been a “rolling protest” with drivers driving slowly in packs across major roadways, displaying signs and slogans. Because the convoy is a conglomerate of many smaller protests it’s hard to tell exactly how many truckers are part of the convoy at the moment or how many will make it to Ottawa. Most reports say that only about 10% of drivers in Canada are unvaccinated, however, the protests are also picking up support from non-truck drivers who are tagging along in order to show support for the overall anti-restriction / anti-lockdown message that the convoy represents. There has also been a wave of monetary contributions

Reactions from around the country

Though the protest is gaining steam it seems that the federal government is not blinking in its stance on mandatory vaccines. On Monday Prime Minister Trudeau reaffirmed his focus on the mandates saying”the best way to continue to prevent supply chain disruptions is to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated”.

In addition, a joint statement was released Tuesday from the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Labour, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, and the President of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, stressing the need for truckers to get vaccinated. Even opposition leader Erin O’Toole voiced less outright support for driver vaccination, saying “I support getting as many people vaccinated as possible, including truckers”.

There were some comments to the contrary made by members of O’Toole’s party, however. Former Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer said in a social media post: “Thank you Truckers! Trudeau is attacking personal liberty and threatening everyone’s ability to get groceries because of his overreach on vaccine mandates,”. a few other conservative MPs expressed their support for the protests heading to Ottawa, with some even offering to meet with the protestors when they arrive.

When the protestors arrive in Ottawa Tomorrow they may be met with a warmer welcome than initially anticipated. however, its unlikely that even with the support of a few voices in parliament, they’ll be able to make the government budge on their vaccine stance.

Controversy Over Funding

One recent development in the story that has whipped up a lot of press is the Freedom Convoy fundraiser started by Tamara Lich of Medicine Hat. The fundraiser aimed at covering costs for truckers making the trek to Ottawa has raised over 5.1 million dollars as of Wednesday morning and is continuing to grow. The page was briefly shut down for a while earlier this week by go fund me, the site suspended the campaign over concerns that the organizers did not have a clear plan to distribute the money. Organizer Tamara Lich assured donors that they were providing the documents to GoFundMe and the campaign would continue as planned.

One other element of controversy actually stems from the organizer herself. Lich is not a trucker and has no clear direct ties to the industry. However, she has been associated with the controversial Yellow Vest and Wexit Alberta movements. Because the funds are deposited directly into Lich’s bank account upon completion of the fundraiser, many worry about if the funds will be distributed properly and how the organizers will be held accountable.

We’ve written similar articles about these protests here.

Cross border barriers – On Saturday the new rules for Canadian drivers crossing the US/Canada border, which we focused on last week, came into effect. Despite a brief reversal from the CBSA, a reverse reversal by the Trudeau government at the eleventh hour upheld the new rules ensuring that all Canadian truck drivers attempting to return to Canada from the states were vaccinated, less they face a quarantine period that would keep them from work. You can read more about the the issues leading up to the new rule in last weeks blog post HERE

The Fallout: Transportation Protests

One of the expected responses to the new rule was a series of protests from drivers who opposed the new mandate. Drivers took to the roads with signage out and horns honking to signify their disdain for the new health regulations earlier this week. The most prominent protest took place in Manitoba, where several truckers participated in a “slow roll” protest. Their convoy of trucks and support vehicles crawled across major roads in and out of the border crossing, slowing traffic to a near halt. However, a larger protest is starting to gain traction across Canada, accompanied by American support and a GoFundMe campaign, as unvaccinated drivers plan to create a convoy of disgruntled citizens who will be on their way to gather in Ottawa, on parliament hill, later in the week.

The Fallout: Resignations and Incentives for Truckers

A major impact of the new rule was also a wave of resignations from current truck drivers who don’t want to face the new rule when crossing the border. Before the rule came into effect many companies reported drivers leaving in order to dodge the rule and the trend has seemingly continued after the official implementation. Some companies have gone out of their way to combat the new additions to the driver shortage by offering cash bonuses for new vaccinated drivers or offering bonuses to existing unvaccinated drivers if they do choose to get their shots.

Blizzards – Trucking Delays for Canada and the USA Supply Chain

To add to the already strained supply chain, a huge swath of the northeast was covered in snow Sunday night, leading to a whole new batch of delays. South of the border New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania received over a foot of snow which lead to power outages in some cities in the three states.

In Ontario and Quebec, most schools called a snow day on what was supposed to be the first day back to in-person learning this year. Some flights were cancelled due to the conditions at Toronto and Ottawa airports, and many east coast flights were cancelled as the storm continued to make it’s way across the country yesterday. The biggest impact of the storm though was on the roads. Low visibility and roads covered in 25-60 centimetres of snow lead to many accidents, stranded drivers, and roads locked in a standstill.

Some key highways were shutdown in Ontario early on Monday in order for plows to get to work before motorists took to the streets. However, for those routes that were open, most were moving extremely slowly, if at all. Many carriers in Ontario and Quebec decided to “Ground” their fleets in order to avoid the delays, damages and other issues that might come with braving the snow storm. These delays are likely to be felt for the remainder of the week as many shipments that were delayed Monday and Tuesday, get re-booked

If you’re planning on going shopping this week, it might be a good idea to stock up on some fresh fruit and veggies as starting next week they may get even more expensive – thanks to the impact of the vaccine mandate and cross border trade.

That’s because starting Saturday, the Canadian government will require that all non-vaccinated Canadian truck drivers returning to Canada quarantine for 14 days after returning to the country. The new rule, which was announced late last year, will also see the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA), turn away any American unvaccinated drivers attempting to enter Canada. This measure, in tandem with rules from the US government taking effect on Jan 22nd, are aimed at reducing the spread of COVID and increasing the number of vaccinated truck drivers, and members of the general public, on both sides of the border. However, the new measures are not without strong critiques.

The push back & possible fallout

Since the rules were announced there has been pushback from countless groups, from Industry advocates and supply chain experts to freight forwarders and individual drivers. One of the loudest opponents of the new mandate has been the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), an association of several provincial trucking groups which lobbies in the interest of Canadian truck drivers. The CTA has projected that 10-20% of the 120,000 Canadian drivers who regularly cross the border will be forced off the job due to the new rules. It’s likely that a similar percentage of the 40,000 US Cross Border drivers will be affected by the rule as well. Industry experts say that these losses would disproportionately harm smaller companies that don’t have the resources or capabilities that large companies have. With two-thirds of Canada-US trade moving by truck, it’s likely that any sort of driver shortage would have ripple effects that could displace millions of dollars of goods.

Government response

Despite trucks crossing freely since the beginning of the pandemic, despite lockdowns, the government’s tone has switched to one much more committed to a stricter inoculation policy. Despite the onslaught of public pushback, the Trudeau government is going ahead with the new rules come hell or high water, though they say the water might not be that high. The government has assured Canadians that they do not expect significant disruptions or shortages as a result of the new mandate. The government also estimates that only 5% of drivers will even be affected by the rule, a far cry from the CTA’s 10-20% estimate.

Takeaway

With an existing shortage of nearly 20,000 cross-border truckers, any impact on the labour supply of drivers will no doubt have an impact on the price and availability of products moving across the border. This isn’t just a concern of the transportation industry either. With the inflation rate already rising to a nearly two-decade high, any increase in the price of transportation will contribute to add to the snowball effects that are growing around the globe. With transportation costs from Asia already rising, as we’ve mentioned before in our newsletter, adding more barriers on the southern border will add pressure to an already squeezed supply chain. Despite the good intentions our fingers are crossed from a last-minute change of heart from the Canadian government in order to keep more essential drivers on the road.

January 13th update

As pressure mounted approaching the mandates roll out the CBSA walked back their position on the mandate, saying that Canadian truckers who are unvaccinated would now be exempt for quarantining after returning from the states. The CBSA did uphold that it would turn away unvaccinated American drivers who try to enter Canada.

See our December Post (Crossborder Vaccine Pushback) for more history on this topic.

In the first week of 2022, we wanted to take a quick look back at 2021 to recap some of the biggest stories of the year.

Suez Stuck 

The beginning of the year was somewhat uneventful as people began to believe that we may be getting back to normal after a very difficult 2020. However, in March we received our first major blow that threw the industry into a panic. After being stuck for less than a week the Evergiven caused massive delays around the globe and caused major economic impacts. The short blockage caused so many issues, many experts say that it is still contributing to equipment shortages and high rates today. – more details covered in the New York Times

Strikes and Shutdowns

Two major delays that affected key transportation infrastructure in 2021 were labour strikes, and port shutdowns. In a year still largely defined by COVID-19, one of the major recurring stories of the year were port shutdowns caused by virus outbreaks. Several ports were forced to partially or completely shut down due to confirmed cases among workers. Meanwhile, the pandemics exposure of major social issues also gave way to a series of strikes from workers unions in everything from manufacturing to tech to transportation. 

BC’s Double Dose of Catastrophe 

This year Canada’s west coast was hit by two separate devastating natural disasters. Over the summer, several areas of BC were continuously plagued by wildfires that caused massive evacuation efforts and millions of dollars of property damage. Unfortunately, there was barely any reprieve for the hardest-hit communities as not long after, waves of flooding struck areas of BC creating more evacuation orders and causing more damage. Certain key infrastructure damaged by the floods took weeks to repair and once again cut off access to a large swath of the country. – We covered more on this in our Dec. 8th post on BC Flooding.

Vaccine Rollout 

One of the positive stories of the year has been the world’s effort to combat the COVID-19 virus through vaccination. In late 2020 and early 2021, several vaccines were approved around the world, and deployment efforts began to inoculate as many people as possible in order to stem the spread of the virus. To date over 9 billion doses of vaccines have been administered globally and millions more are being added to the total every day. – We covered more on this in our Dec. 13th post Crossborder Vaccine Pushback.

This week, in lieu of discussing the latest in transportation news and events, we wanted to take a step back and say thank you by saying – Merry Christmas from Nu-Era Logistics. First, we want to thank our staff for working so diligently during an extremely eventful year in transportation. We also want to thank all of you, our customers, and our partners. A lot has changed this year both in the global market and for all of us individually. We’re thankful that you’ve stuck with us through it all and we look forward to continuing to work together in the new year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the entire Nu Era Team.

Christmas card illustrations by Catchy Creative

Heading into 2021, the epicenter of Canada’s shipping delays may shift from the west coast to the southern border. The looming threat for 2022 is the impending cross-border trucker vaccine mandate expected to come into effect in late January. The joint effort between the Canadian and US governments is aimed at reducing the spread of COVID amid the current omicron variant situation. 

The mandate has received pushback from industry groups and politicians alike who worry about the effect this mandate could have on the supply chain. Currently, 120,000 Canadian drivers handle about 75% of all cross-border truck freight, and industry experts predict that this mandate would see up to 22,000 of these drivers pass on cross-border work in order to dodge the mandate. Such a large hit to an already short supply of drivers could spell disaster for Canada and its most crucial trade partner.

– An updated article is available here: Vaccine Mandate and Cross Border Trade.

Update on BC Flooding

Now that it seems like the worst is behind us, repairs and recovery efforts are underway in BC. On Monday, CN & CP notified customers that its mainline between Kamloops and Vancouver was reopening. This would allow certain gates across Canada and the US to accept freight bound for the Port of Vancouver again.

Over the road shipments had a similar level of positive news, with Highway 3 reopening quickly after the flood subsided, though only for essential travel. The BC government has given no timeline for when non-essential travel will be allowed on the route. Instead they have projected that the other major highway affected by the storms, Highway 5, the Coquihalla Highway, will not be reopening until late January.

From a supply chain perspective, the country will likely be feeling the effects of the storm damage for weeks or months to come. Many experts are already predicting shortages of everything from turkey to alcohol across Canada for the remainder of this year and into next. 

LA/LB Delays

We’re pretty sure its time to start taking bets on whether or not the $100 a day waiting fees from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles were ever intended to be implemented. Our money is on NO. After delaying the fees for the fourth time, now till December 13th, it’s likely that we may never see the fees come into effect. Authorities rationalized the delay the same way they had explained the last three, saying that the mere threat of the fees has already had an impact on the number of containers sitting at the port.

Note: If the decline in slow-moving containers continues, we’ll need a fixed section in this newsletter to let you know fees are once again being delayed. 

More issues pertaining to West Coast ports were discussed in last weeks article – read more here.

Carrots vs Sticks to Move Containers

At the two busiest ports in North America, LA and Long Beach, a wide variety of measures are being taken to ease the congestion that has been plaguing the ports for the last few months. In late October the two ports announced that they would be instituting $100 a day, escalating late fees for containers waiting in the ports longer than necessary. Though the ports have now delayed the implementation of the fees for the third time, it seems as though the threat of the fees may have had a helping hand in reducing the number of containers waiting more than 13 days from 31,500 to 14,309 over the last month. Meanwhile, ocean carrier CMA CGM has taken a different approach to reducing the backlog. The company has announced a new incentive for importers in order to entice more early pickups. For containers moving into the LA and Long Beach ports, the company will now give a credit to importers who pick up their cargo within the first 8 days after arrival. Importers who pick up early during the week will receive $100, and those who pick up on nights or weekends will receive $200. With rates being as high as they are right now, its unclear if $100-200 will be enough to speed up the movement of containers, but the hope is that the credit will help get more cargo through the port quickly.  We’ll fill you in on more details next week’s post.

Port of Vancouver Strike Looms

As if there weren’t enough stress in B.C already, on Monday unions for two carriers serving the port of Vancouver issued a 72-hour strike notice. The union represents roughly 200 drivers, about 10% of the ports drivers, from two companies:  Aheer and Prudential Transportation. The drivers are threatening to strike after talks fell through with the two employers around implementing a collective agreement in line with the one reached by Harbor Link Transportation earlier this year. Though the unions are seeking “fairness across the sector” it’s unlikely that a full-on strike will occur. Given the dire situation already occurring at the port, it’s very likely that the government will step in to prevent any further delays. 

You can read more about the possible strike HERE. 

Little Relief for Flood Stricken B.C.

Over the last week, flooding and landslides in British Columbia have continued to affect local communities and the national supply chain, and looking forward, there may not be a reprive insight this week either. Heavy rain and flooding continued throughout last week but during the weekend rescue workers and inspectors had a brief window in which the weather let up to help retrieve citizens who were left behind, and survey the damage.

Reports were initially positive on when people would be able to return home and when supply chains would be back to normal. Initial projections had rail service to the port of Vancouver being restored sometime this week, and yesterday Class 1 Rail company announced it would be restoring service between Kamloops and Vancouver today. Unfortunately, the good news did not last as more storms and heavy flooding are on the way for B.C.

Though the coming storm, expected to hit Thursday, won’t be as devastating as last week’s, it’s expected to have a compounding effect as the landscape has already been made extremely vulnerable by the previous batch of bad weather. It looks as though supply chains in the area will continue to be affected for the next several days at least so expect delays on cargo moving in or out of the Canadian west coast. 

You can read more about the flooding in more recent posts HERE

A Note on Newfoundland

As the west coast prepares for a second batch of bad weather, the east coast, Newfoundland and Labrador especially, is preparing for unprecedented flooding. For the remainder of this week, Atlantic Canada will be feeling the effects of a storm similar to the one that hit B.C last week. 

A Fee Fakeout?

This week the ports of LA and Long beach once again delayed their enforcement of $100 a day escalating fees for containers left waiting in port. This comes after two previous delays, pushing the date first to November 15th, then November 22nd, and now to the end of the month. Having been announced a month ago, and with no enforcement mechanism detailed, suspicions are rising that these fees may have been a bluff all along.

Since the fees were announced, the ports have seen a decline of 33% in aging cargo on the docks. At this point, it seems that the ports may be happy with this reduction and could end up scrapping the whole fee plan. However, it’s possible that if container dwelling begins to trend in the opposite direction, the ports will finally push through the enforcement, and the fallout from that could be disastrous. 

You can read more about the fees and the delay HERE