Truckers push back against Port of Vancouver’s new environmental policy

A new policy coming into effect at the Port of Vancouver on Feb. 1 will worsen supply chain issues, according to the union representing truckers.

The Rolling Truck Age Program bans trucks that are older than 10 years.

“Developed in consultation with the trucking community and based on current best practice research, the port authority determined that a 10-year maximum truck age model will improve air quality and support cleaner, healthier communities in Metro Vancouver, while also helping to build a more reliable, stable, and socially responsible truck fleet serving the Port of Vancouver,” the port’s website reads.

But Unifor’s Western Regional Director, Gavin McGarrigle, who is representing the container truckers, says expecting them to pay for the port’s environmental goals isn’t fair to the drivers.

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“We’ve finally seen the program that they’ve put in place costs truckers $1,100 even just to apply for exemption. And it really doesn’t get at the underlying issue which is, ‘Is it fair to have two standards for trucks in British Columbia?'” McGarrigle said.

He says the trucks are completely legal in B.C. and fall under the province’s environmental standards.

“What you have here is Port of Vancouver trying to be green with someone else’s money,” McGarrigle said.

“There’s a lot of anger right now out there among the drivers. And the reality among the drivers is even the port is acknowledging only 80 per cent of the trucks have complied with their requirement,” he said, adding this impacts about 300 truck drivers, as well as their families.

The truckers are looking for a two-year pause and for the province to intervene. McGarrigle says all the stakeholders need to get to the table to find a way to get on the same page.

The federal Minister of Transportation, Omar Alghabra, also urged for a delay in a statement last week to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

“The recent flooding and wildfires also underscored that Canada’s supply chains have suffered significant stressors over the past year and their resilience is critical to Canada’s economic well-being,” the statement reads in part.

Today, I wrote to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority about the drayage trucking sector. See here:

Aujourd’hui, j’ai écrit à l’Administration portuaire Vancouver-Fraser au sujet du secteur du camionnage de factage. Détails ci-bas: pic.twitter.com/mDvS46G82g

— Omar Alghabra (@OmarAlghabra) January 8, 2022

The sector is already under pressure due to the supply chain issues, staffing levels, and a recent vaccine mandate for those who cross the Canada- U.S. border.

McGarrigle says the option to buy a new truck is also impossible right now due to the ongoing vehicle shortage, and very few used trucks up for purchase which fall within the age requirement.

“Every year going forward you are going to have some trucks that are aging out and you are going to have people scrambling to find these newer trucks even when these trucks are designed for a much longer lifespan.”

Port of Vancouver is offering to alter deadline

The Port of Vancouver appears to be easing off its Feb. 1 deadline. A statement provided to City News by the vice president, environment and external affairs Duncan Wilson indicates the port will be delaying the policy’s implementation.

“We have recently heard some concerns about our program start date from industry and Transport Canada, and we recognize that the pandemic, recent flooding, and on-going global supply chain issues may have created some short-term challenges for people looking to buy compliant trucks. We are thus postponing our program start date slightly, to provide some additional time and engagement opportunities for industry, and to hopefully mitigate some of those challenges. We’ll provide those details in the coming days.”

Wilson defends the program saying that by “capping container truck age, we expect to see a 93% reduction in particulate matter from the fleet serving the port. That’s a big step forward for clean air and healthy communities. We have been working on this program for more than a decade, and engaging with industry.”

Port of Vancouver’s move years in the making

The fight between the union representing truck drivers and the port goes back years. In 2017, the union tried to fight the move by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in court but lost.

According to the court documents, it stemmed from the 28-day work stoppage in 2014, when all sides agreed to a plan to restructure the truck licencing system in order to increase stability in the drayage sector.

Out of that, measures were proposed to control the number of licensed container trucks in order to avoid the surplus of trucks “which had contributed to a pervasive practice of rate undercutting.”

The port had also been exploring the idea of a 10-year truck age policy since 2012, and says it had consulted hundreds of truckers and the union regarding the matter.

“The Policy, as it currently stands, is a reasonable exercise of PMV’s discretionary, policy-making authority because it is justifiable, transparent, and intelligible, and is within a range of possible, acceptable outcomes defensible in respect of the facts and law,” the judgement in favour of the port reads.