Backlog at Vancouver Port Remains

This was sent to me via the Vancouver Port Authority mailing list.

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Trucks are moving again at the Port of Vancouver's
container terminals, but the backlog of containers remains sitting on
the docks as truckers fail to take advantage of extended operating
hours.

According to reports from the port's container terminals, more than
1,000 reservations were booked at Deltaport last Saturday, but only
400 transactions were completed. Similarly low Saturday volumes were
also reported at the port's other two terminals. On Monday and Tuesday
afternoon, the proportion of completed reservations was even lower, so
the terminals discontinued the extended hours of operation.

"The low number of completed reservations means that trucking
companies are booking the appointments during extended hours, but
their drivers are not showing up," said Jim Cox, Vancouver Port
Authoritys Vice President, Infrastructure Development. The port's
container terminals want to open on Saturday, but need assurance that
the trucks will be there.

"We need support and co-operation from all stakeholders so that we can
move local imports off our terminals and resume normal operations.
That means a commitment from truckers to work some additional hours
until the backlog is cleared. Without this co-operation, we will
continue to see excessive volumes backed up at our terminals and
people and businesses will continue to suffer. The VPA and its
terminal operators are willing to do whatever is reasonably required
in order to alleviate the current problem, but that won't be possible
without the active participation of all stakeholders, particularly the
truck drivers," said Cox.

Approximately 9,000 containers (15,300 TEUs*) continue to be held up
at the lower mainlands container terminals. An additional 2,000
containers (3,400 TEUs) are at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma,
waiting for the Vancouver backlog to clear before they are loaded
aboard ships destined for Vancouver. The port estimates that at the
current rate the backlog will take more than a month to clear up,
while successful extended hours initiatives could have it removed in a
fraction of that time.

The Vancouver Port Authority is warning that the impact of not
addressing the container backlog in a timely way will result in a
continued inability to accept Canadian export cargo, as well as delays
in delivering import cargo to customers.