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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/309075
16 BCBusiness JUNE 2014 Metro Vancouver nor any level of government pays the truckers, nor are they party to collective agreements between unions and trucking companies that service the port. Truckers can be paid by the load or by the hour, belong to a union or not and drive their own trucks or someone else's. While the majority of truckers are non-unionized and paid by the load, hundreds more fall under every intersection of those categories. Wentt says that for companies like hers, which employ drivers or contract out to the port's independent truckers, the new wage rates, together with a new fuel surcharge equation, mean a 20 per cent increase in costs. While the agreement resolved the imme- diate labour crisis, trucking companies as well as independent owners and operators face a more intransigent long-term challenge: with the port authority expecting truck traf- fic to increase by 50 per cent by 2020, who can ensure that those trucks spend more time moving goods, and less time sitting idle? Trucking times in the Lower Mainland increased 30 per cent between 1997 and 2007, the last time Transport Canada studied the problem, says Louise Yako, president of the B.C. Trucking Association. As indepen- dent operators—most of whom are paid by the load—make fewer trips and spend more time sitting idle, their earnings take a significant hit. Any factors that push down the port's efficiency hit them the hardest. How long truckers spend waiting at the gate is open to dispute. According to Port Metro Vancouver, congestion within the port does not often lead to significant delays: the port reports that 64 per cent of trucks wait less than an hour to pick up or drop off cargo, and less than five per cent wait longer than two hours. However, Yako disputes those figures: "Our members' reports on turn times don't always coincide with what the port reports," she says. There's no disputing an increase in volume of container cargo handled by the port: it handled 2.8 million TEUs (each TEU is the equivalent of a 20-foot container) in 2013, compared to 2.5 million in 2010, and it projects traffic of between 4.15 and 5.2 million TEUs by 2020. According to Yako, efficiency is not simply a matter of road infrastruc- ture: the new South Fra- ser Perimeter Road and a replacement for the Pattullo Bridge and George Massey Tunnel will be sufficient as traffic increases. What needs attention, she says, is efficient use of that infrastructure. "We're only using it 12 to 14 hours a day, and as volumes increase we're going to have to move to extended, and possibly, 24/7 gate hours," says Yako, referring to the operating hours during which truckers can access port facilities. Port Metro Vancouver is also confi- dent that existing infrastructure, as well as planned improvements, will suffice as traffic levels increase. "There have been generational investments in mobility in the region," says Peter Xotta, vice-president of operations. As an example of the kinds of improvement the port is implementing, he points to GPS monitoring, which he says will help co-ordinate truck movements more efficiently. The 2014 strike was the third labour dispute in 15 years involving Port Metro Van- couver, and it affected $885 million in con- tainer traffic that moves through the port each week, according to Port Metro Vancou- ver. Improvements to infrastructure and ini- tiatives to improve efficiency are part of Port Metro Vancouver's strategy of increasing the number of daily trips truckers can make, as opposed to regulating the trucking industry, which in turn could make Vancouver a more expensive place to do business, says Peter Hall, an SFU professor who studies the port system. But when the port doesn't run at the efficiency levels that it should, the costs fall on the truckers. "Having the largest, cheapest port we can have might not be the solution," says Hall. • SOURCE: asia Pacific Gateway Skills Table Survey, 2013 SOURCE: Port Metro Vancouver What's in those Containers? inbound Cargo, Metric tonnes, 2013 Household Goods 3,026,216 Construction Materials 1,416,417 Industrial, auto and Vehicle Parts 1,174,021 Machinery 764,227 Chemical Products 364,792 Produce 342,302 Basic Metals 320,882 Beverages 303,577 Electronics 250,625 Paper & Paperboard 247,862 Other 2,013,659 PaUL JOSEPH average truCk driver's trips per day in 2006 average truCk driver's trips per day in 2013 5.3 4 average inCoMe of an independent truCk oWner/operator $35,000 p14-21-Frontlines_june.indd 16 14-05-01 2:59 PM