ST. JOHN’S (June 23, 2005) — A David and Goliath battle over the future of Marine Atlantic’s future operations seems to be brewing on the East Coast.

Jon Summers, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Independent Truckers Association (NLITA), was in Newfoundland yesterday to tell Transport Canada his members’ side of the story in the case of Marine Atlantic’s potential plans to abandon drop-trailer operations.

Summers represents a group of regional owner-operators that mainly depend on the ferry’s live, roll-on load service. He has welcomed the proposal to stop drop-trailer service in order to improve live load operations. Many truckers have been complaining for years that they’ve been severely delayed, even bumped, at the expense of drop cargo, which takes time to load and unload from vessels.

The government — which last month advised the Port Aux Basques-North Sydney ferry to discontinue the $20 million drop-on service — already heard from the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association yesterday. APTA President Ralph Boyd lobbied the Transport Canada Advisory Committee to change its mind in dropping the service.

Boyd argued that about $34 million of Marine Atlantic’s revenues last year came from commercial vehicles — over 50 percent of these consisting of drop trailers. Additionally, interest in the service has increased by 15.3 percent between 2001 and 2004, while live usage had increased by only 5.4 percent.

Also, he says that the ferry transports one half of the goods entering Newfoundland, including 90 percent of all perishable food items. If the drop-on service were halted, he says, it would damage the province’s economy.

But Summers countered that, other than a handful of large carriers, it’s his members who transport 90 percent of the perishable goods to The Rock.

“To have situations where live truck traffic sat on the dock and watched three ferries come and go before they were accommodated often lead to extreme frustration and tension,” Summers told the committee. “The fact of the matter is that these live loads don’t have an option. If they don’t get on a ferry one day, they will be there the next. There is no other ocean carrier that can accommodate trucks and drivers. Often, this fact was used to the advantage of MAI, who would leave trucks on the busy days and move them when the other traffic was cleared.”

Carriers that are now using a system of drop-trailers have several options open to them if the service is discontinued, says Summers. Some include:

— Deliver trailers as live loads. “This is asking them to do nothing more than what the owner-operators and smaller transport companies have been doing successfully for years,” Summers says.

— Utilize other options that are open to them. Oceanex has increased its capacity by 44 percent with a second ship sailing from Halifax to St. John’s on a weekly basis, says Summers, who also notes many APTA carriers already take advantage of this service.

— As Today’s Trucking has reported extensively in the past, Rigel Shipping has been for years toying with the idea for a new ferry service slated to run between the Port of Belledune and Corner Brook. The project had been put on hold because major trucking companies were not prepared to commit to the service. Summers suggests carriers confirm their interest with the shipping company to expedite plans for the new ferry.

“The APTA predicts a significant negative impact on the Newfoundland economy in terms of the quality and variety of goods available, and a degradation in the distribution of goods. We believe this is nothing short of fear-mongering,” says Joanne Ritchie, executive director of the Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada — a sister group of the NLITA. “Any of these alternatives (mentioned by Summers), combined with the 15 percent rate decrease MAI is offering (upon discontinuing drop on service), as well as significantly faster turnaround time for ferries, could greatly increase the efficiency of these carriers and result in lower costs.”