Border regs costing truckers nearly half a billion dollars: Study
OTTAWA — Of all transport modes, cross-border trucking has been the hardest-hit by a myriad of redundant U.S. security rules since 9-11, a report for Transport Canada has found.
The economic impact report, submitted to the government by a consultant and recently obtained by the Ottawa Citizen, found that delays at border crossing alone cost Canadian trucking carriers between $231 million and $433 million a year, with millions more spent on administration to comply with cargo notification program like PAPS and ACE.
but they’re still costing truckers millions of dollars
According to the Citizen’s report, carriers spent even more on driver training, background checks and administration to comply with security programs like C-TPAT and FAST, security-related technology and equipment, and computer system upgrades.
Much of truckers’ costs are due to long lineups at border crossings, where one-hour wait times are still the average, states the report.
In total, the Canadian transportation sector has spent as much as $2.6 billion in the last few years dealing with U.S. border protocols.
Direct and indirect operating cost on trucking, air, rail, and marine was between $315 million and $549 million from Sept. 11, 2001 to April 2005, with up to an additional $608 million in capital costs.
The authors, reports the Citizen, based their findings on 56 in-depth interviews with major transportation stakeholders and almost 1,000 mail-out surveys to others.
Compared with the trucking and aviation sectors, the security cost impact on railways, port authorities, and marine facilities was negligible, states the report.
A recent Conference Board of Canada study also found that carriers and shippers are reverting to less-efficient practices because of the border regulations.
When border slowdowns are expected, companies report they now stockpile inventory and pre-ship goods ahead of an order so as to guarantee they arrive on time, the study found.
— with files from the Ottawa Citizen
Have your say
This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.