VANCOUVER, (July 25, 2005) — Another round of violence has erupted on Vancouver’s coast as several trucks belonging to a container carrier were sprayed with bullets over the weekend.

Automatic gunfire shattered windshields and pierced the cabs of eight Pro-West Transport trucks early Saturday morning. A driver sleeping in one of the cabs was lucky not to be injured.

Richmond RCMP spokesman Sgt. Ron Paysen told Canadian Press that a red vehicle containing several South Asian men drove into the parking lot of Pro-West Transport just after midnight and that several shots were fired.

The carrier controls a handful of the 200 trucks that continue to haul containers in and out of the Port of Vancouver.

Container movement at the Port has slowed to a crawl since 1,200 independent container truckers went on strike June 27. The truckers — represented by the Vancouver Container Truck Association — have been protesting wages, length of workday, and rising fuel costs for nearly a month.

Police won’t confirm if the gunplay is related to the strike, but carriers here insist it’s hard to ignore the coincidence.

Other trucking companies also reported vandalism, according to the Globe and Mail. A separate carrier claims windshields on its trucks were smashed and a brick thrown through the bedroom of a truckers’ family member. Other truckers have reported vandalism and threatening phone calls at their homes.

The latest incidents come a few weeks after violence first erupted on the outside the ports. The trucking companies subsequently obtained a court injunction allowing non-VCTA member truckers to continue hauling containers. Rail lines — while at capacity — are also transporting containers out of the ports.

Despite tensions heating leading to violence, the federal and provincial governments still refuse to get involved. They say they prefer that B.C.-appointed facilitator Vince Ready resolve the conflict. Ready — who has mediated 7,000 labour contracts in his career — failed to broker a deal between the fleets and owner-ops 10 days ago. The three parties have not met since.

Last week, several shipper and retailer groups urged the two sides to come together quickly, adding that the situation was becoming critical for businesses in the province and beyond.

— with files from CP and the Globe and Mail