Economy
B.C. Port Trucking Commissioner Orders Back Pay for Drivers
VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Office of the British Columbia Port Trucking Commissioner on Friday released a series of rulings that truck drivers are owned more than $150,000 in back wages as part of an agreement that ended a 2014 strike at the Port of Metro Vancouver.
B.C., Ontario Poised to Drive Canadian Economy in 2016
TORONTO, ON -- A changing of the guard in Canadian growth is well underway, with British Columbia and Ontario poised to be the biggest drivers in a still-sluggish Canadian economy next year, according to new report from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and that could force some trucking companies to rethink how they are doing business.
Daimler Trucks to Make New Medium Duty Engines in Detroit
DETROIT, MI -- Daimler Trucks on Friday announced it is making a big financial investment to enable production of the new Detroit DD5 and DD8 medium duty engines at Detroit's headquarters and manufacturing facility in Redford, MI. Joined by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and nearly 2,000 United Auto Workers employees, the company celebrated the announcement of the new lines of DD5 and DD8 medium duty engines and officially launched production of the company's Detroit DT12 automated manual transmission, previously manufactured in Germany. The new engines, first announced at the 2014 American Trucking Associations annual conference, will be available in select Daimler Truck North America vehicles by the end of 2016.
B.C. Truck Parking Project Runs into Opposition
SURREY, BC - There is increasing opposition to a plan to build a facility to allow hundreds of trucks to park in a part of British Columbia. Local groups and residents are lining up against the company GG Metro Holdings, which wants to construct the facility in Surrey on nearly 80 acres on three parcels of land near 16th Avenue, according to The Vancouver Sun newspaper.
P.E.I. Ending Truck Disinfection Program at Year’s End
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE -- Truckers hauling potatoes on Prince Edward Island will have one less matter to contend with following a recent decision by officials in the province to close the truck disinfection station in the town of Borden-Carleton and remove mobile units by Dec. 31. According to CBC News, under the program, trucks carrying potatoes are sprayed to help prevent bacterial ring rot. However, in an interview with www.todaystrucking.com an official with the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA) says the program is no longer needed because potatoes aren't at risk of disease anymore, only the seed loads are potentially at risk.
Want to Keep Your Drivers? Make Sure They’re Treated Well
TORONTO, ON - How your truck drivers are treated by customers can have a big impact as to whether they want to stay or find another job, but there is a solution. That's the conclusion of a six-month study recently completed by the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA), called Operation Upgrade, to find out how truck drivers are treated at shipping and receiving facilities and measure their level of satisfaction with their carriers' customers. Specifically, the study found drivers complained about how little attention is paid by bad customers in honoring appointments and turnaround times. Delays and wasted time eats up drivers' allowable working hours, costs them money and keeps them away from their families longer, according to the study. Worse, many drivers report maltreatment and even discrimination at more than a few of the worst-offending facilities. OTA says the truck driving profession is facing a shortage crisis in Canada. "With freight demand increasing across North America and capacity tightening, buying power is swinging in truck drivers' favor - giving them not only more choice of who they work for, but also which customers they want to serve."
GAIN Clean Fuel Opens its First Public CNG Station in Quebec
COTEAU-DU-LAC, QC -- Representatives from C.A.T., U.S. Venture Gain Fuel Canada, and Gaz Métro, along with local and regional dignitaries, celebrated on Friday the grand opening of the first GAIN Clean Fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) public station in Quebec.