Timing of announcement will cause new supply chain delays and further sink Port’s abysmal global ranking, says UTA
Forcing truckers with fully paid off assets that meet all Canadian and BC standards for commercial operations (in terms of safety, emissions and opacity levels) is punitive against a group that is predominantly South Asian in origin.
SURREY: The Port of Vancouver’s just-announced decision to reintroduce the Rolling Truck Age Program (“RTAP”) represents impending doom for an institution being crushed by performance metrics, according to United Truckers Association (UTA).
UTA feels set to launch again in September 2022, the costly measures will put extreme financial burden on container truckers amidst the highest rates of inflation and unaffordability in a generation. “It was also set to cause more supply chain delays for a port that in 2021 placed 368/370 in the Container Port Performance Index, as ranked by the World Bank Group and S&P Market Intelligence.”
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority announced on June 15 that effective September 15, 2022, the Rolling Truck Program will phase out 2006-year container trucks serving the port. Trucks will be required to be replaced with newer, lower-emission trucks that meet the program’s environmental requirements.
The program’s start date was scheduled for February 1, 2022. In January 2022, however, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra asked the port authority to consider a delay to seek further input on the implementation plan from stakeholders. “In response, the port authority conducted two rounds of public engagement with Truck Licensing System (TLS) participants, industry associations and stakeholders, Indigenous groups, local government, and community organizations to help inform a revised implementation plan,” said Robin Silvester, president and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
However, UTA feels that it was a hasty decision. “The Port of Vancouver’s hasty decision comes with a consultation process that completely betrayed the direction of the Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra,”said UTAspokesperson Gagan Singh.
“In February, the federal government forced the Port of Vancouver to delay implementation so that extensive consultation with industry stakeholders could reshape the proposed program,” said Singh. “Instead, we got a process that did nothing more than rubber stamp a decision and design that had long been established by the Port of Vancouver. The input from the UTA and other key stakeholders, has been essentially ignored.”
The program aims to improve air quality and support cleaner, healthier communities in Metro Vancouver, while also helping to build a more reliable, stable and safe truck fleet serving the port. However UTA said, “The Port of Vancouver increased its coal export volume by 19% to 38 million metric tonnes in 2021, which represents approximately 79,267,906 metric tonnes of C02 emissions annually. This is the equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from 17,079,795 gas-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. The approximately 1,700 trucks being unfairly targeted by the RTAP represent less than 2% of BC’s licensed commercial trucks, who face none of the same punitive emissions standards.”
Forcing truckers with fully paid off assets that meet all Canadian and BC standards for commercial operations (in terms of safety, emissions and opacity levels) is punitive against a group that is predominantly South Asian in origin.
Further, the UTA’s ongoing calls for Transport Canada to independently study this matter through a working group and with the assistance of scrutiny in the House of Commons pursuant to the Statutory Instruments Act, has been met with complete silence. The lack of oversight over the Port’s unfair and unjustified targeting of container truckers represents gross negligence on the part of the Government of Canada, added Singh.
“We expected the Minister and his government to properly examine this matter with the care and consideration it deserves. Instead, we have seen politics once again trump sound public policy, and the UTA will not stay silent in the months leading up to the Port’s proposed implementation.”
