Posted on 01/13/2022 5:25:23 AM PST by Enlightened1
With more than two-thirds of the CUS$650 billion (US$511 billion) in goods traded annually between Canada and the United States travelling on roads, the trucking industry is key.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance had estimated the government mandate could force some 16,000 cross-border drivers – 10 per cent of them – off the roads.
The mandate was the first policy measure taken since the pandemic began that could limit cross-border trucking traffic. Trucks crossed the border freely when the border was closed for 20 months because they were considered essential to keep supply chains open.
Supply chain disruptions drove Canada’s headline inflation to an 18-year high in November, and the Bank of Canada has signalled that it could raise interest rates as soon as April.
The cost of bringing a truckload of fruit and vegetables from California and Arizona to Canada doubled during the pandemic due to a driver shortage, Steve Bamford, chief executive of Bamford Produce, an importer and exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables based in Ontario told Reuters last week.
Fresh foods are sensitive to freight problems because they expire rapidly.
The Biden administration wants truck drivers at companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, a policy that has been challenged to the Supreme Court.
Canada drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its truckers after pressure from industry Source link Canada drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its truckers after pressure from industry
Small, yet still a victory, for THE RESISTANCE.
US is set to implement the same requirement next week ... are they cancelling it too?
Great news.
Everything pResident Poopy Pants can do to destroy our economy, he's doing.
Last I heard, they’ve not dropped it for American truckers crossing the border.
Canada Drops Trucker Vaxx Mandate at Last Minute, But Retains Vaxx Mandate for American Truckers
Also this doesn’t matter much because most provinces in Canada have the requirements, and Tredeau said that he will enforce those.
I've also driven over the Ambassador Bridge...75% 18 Wheelers.
I have been dealing with a specific trucking company for 15 years.
I use them to do one specific haul for me of lumber. Basically, the greater Portland, OR area to the Boise valley. I have done this haul hundreds of times.
Just a couple years ago the rate was $1250. Then it went to $1300. About a year ago it went to $1400. Six months ago it went up to $1600. Yesterday, they sent me a new rate sheet starting in mid February the rate will be $2000.
Some of this has to do with consolidation plus the fact that Boise is one of the fastest growing markets in the USA currently. More demand, less trucking companies.
Do the math on the above figures. Each time there has been an increase I have to pass that cost along to the customer buying the lumber. Sometimes, I get caught estimating the freight cost at the lower amount and have to pay more AFTER I took the order, and I have to eat the extra cost.
"However, truckers from the United States will still need to be vaccinated or they will be turned back at the border from Jan. 15, a CBSA spokesperson said."
Are you sure the log trucks are heading to CT? There are no sawmills in CT. They COULD be heading to the port of New Haven to be shipped off shore.
There are mills in northern VT & northern NH that buy Canadian timber. There is only one small sawmill in western MA. I doubt they would be buying timber from Quebec.
There is a tremendous amount of lumber produced in Quebec that travels as far south as SC & GA by truck. Even as far west as OK & TX.
Also,I-91 intersects with I-84,which heads toward New York City and Pennsylvania.
Let me explain the lumber sawmilling industry. All sawmills are specialized. The biggest production mills that make multiple railcar loads of lumber/day are spitting out 2x4, 2x6, 2x8 like crazy. They buy softwood species like Spruce back east. Out west they buy Spruce, Lodgepole pine, Hemlock, White fir and Douglas Fir. This is all construction lumber.
Also out west there are mills that pretty much only run Western red cedar.
There are also sawmills that mostly make boards: 1x4, 1x6, 1x8, 1x10 & 1x12. These eastern sawmills buy Eastern White Pine. Out west they most buy Ponderosa Pine and Lodgepole Pine. These are much smaller production mills than stud and dimension mills.
Lastly, there are sawmills that just cut hardwoods. Oak, maple, White Ash, Black Cherry, Popular, etc. These end up going to furniture, flooring, bowling pins, pallets, and many other things too many to mention. These mills are generally much smaller board foot producers than softwood mills.
SO, different species of timber go to different types of sawmills. Basically, whoever will pay them the most for the timber. Sometimes, that means logs from Canada come into the US and logs from Maine go into Quebec.
On the west coast there used to be mills in WA state that bought timber that was barged/rafted to them from Vancouver Island down through the Puget Sound to Tacoma.
Those rate increases exactly mirror the increased price of diesel. When Biden took office, diesel was $2.12/gallon where I am, today it is $4.15.
Shop rates for maintenance have also increased along those lines, as have the prices for tires.
We don’t eat the increases in our operating costs, any more than you do. Your flatbed company is charging a fair rate for that route out thru the gorge to Boise.
Actually, I do believe that the trucking company is being more than fair. I just wanted to give an example of freight increases.
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