VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Vancouver Port Authority (VPA) is set to introduce more rigorous and demanding container truck safety and environmental standards by July 2007.

The VPA also registered its support for ongoing container truck inspections and called on its transportation industry partners to implement tougher inspection standards.

“Recent safety inspection results confirm the container trucking industry in the Lower Mainland needs to take a serious look at how it manages safety standards,” said Chris Badger, VPA vice-president, customer development and operations.

During a three-day safety inspection conducted by Delta Police and the B.C. Ministry of Transportation along Deltaport Way last week, 250 container trucks were singled out for inspection and 114 failed safety standards.

“These results are unacceptable to the port authority, to the communities in which we operate and to the trucking industry as a whole,” said Badger. “The VPA is putting the operators of unsafe container trucks on notice here: substandard equipment will not be allowed on port property.”

In January, the VPA implemented a new trucking policy that introduced new and more rigorous licensing, audit and enforcement provisions that apply to container trucks and container truck operations at the Port of Vancouver.

“Our container trucking license agreement currently requires that licensees comply with existing environmental and safety laws, regulations and standards,” said Badger. “But we want to go beyond that. We want our licensees to exceed existing standards.”

The Port of Vancouver is the only major North American port that operates a container truck licensing system.

“The VPA’s commitment to develop a more stable model for the container trucking sector includes initiating vigorous licensing provisions to address environmental and safety standards and to restrict the access of substandard trucks on port property,” said Badger. “We’re working to make sure that our Truck Licensing System reflects how seriously we take our safety and environmental responsibilities.”

In addition to enhancing its container truck licensing system, the VPA will continue to work with the British Columbia Trucking Association (BCTA), the B.C. Ministry of Transportation’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement unit and ICBC’s AirCare On Road (ACOR) program to raise safety and environmental standards and awareness in the trucking sector.