The Vancouver Port Authority today, Dec. 1, announced a new trucking policy, including a new license agreement, in support of its strategic trucking program. The new policy will introduce new and more rigorous licensing, audit and enforcement provisions that will apply to container trucks and container truck operations at the Port of Vancouver in Canada.
“The VPA’s new license agreement will give our port a greater role in ensuring that trucking companies comply with the memorandum of agreement that was developed by Vince Ready in the aftermath of the 2005 container trucking dispute,” says Capt. Gordon Houston, president and chief executive officer of the Vancouver Port Authority. “This new policy supports the VPA’s goal to develop a more stable model for the container-trucking sector in the Lower Mainland.”
Policy details include:
“The new trucking policy will increase stability in the container trucking sector by ensuring that companies do not continue to undercut each other to the point of another market failure,” says Houston. In 2005, container truck drivers walked off the job saying they were not able to make ends meet. “The race to the bottom has to end if we are to restore stability to container trucking operations in the lower mainland,” Houston says.
The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest and most diversified port, annually trading $43 billion in goods with more than 90 countries. Port activities generate 69,200 jobs in total, $4 billion in gross domestic product and $8.9 billion in economic output.