VANCOUVER, B.C. — Eight trucks in Richmond, B.C. were riddled with bullets over the weekend as Vancouver container haulers continue their month-old strike.

One trucker who was sleeping in the cab of his truck was lucky to escape uninjured, police said. Meanwhile, drivers who have continued hauling freight say their trucks have been vandalized and their families threatened.

And a security guard at a B.C. trucking company said he was held at bay by gunpoint as people smashed truck windshields and cut air brake lines.

The Vancouver Port Authority says some truckers who are not part of the Vancouver Container Truckers Association have been hauling a limited number of containers. It also reported there’s an increasing number of trucks serving the port, which has remained open.

However, the business community says that isn’t enough and is demanding the federal government take action to force container truckers back to work. The Vancouver Board of Trade says the strike costs the province $75 million per day. Businesses recently held a news conference saying they will soon be forced to lay off employees if the strike continues.

Ian May of the Western Canadian Shippers Coalition told the Vancouver Province that intervention from the feds is required before more long-term damage is done.

“The damage to Vancouver’s reputation as a reliable conduit for goods is real and only the future will show us the full extent of that damage,” he said. “Of particular concern to the business community is the violence that has characterized this dispute. This is not tolerable in a civil society. There is a pervasive atmosphere of intimidation which has been reinforced by violent incidents that have dissuaded those who wish to work from doing so.”

B.C. business leaders say the feds can intervene by using a section of the Transportation Act to force the 1,000 truckers back to work.