OTTAWA — A recent Transport Canada annual report reinforces that Canada’s trucking sector is dominated cross-border trade with the U.S.

In 2005, states the report, trucks moved $188.8 billion in exports ($2.1 billion more than in 2004), and $164.5 billion in U.S. imports (as compared to $162.6 billion the year before). This, says Transport Canada Minister Lawrence Cannon, despite the sector’s share of challenges.

“Pressure on Canada’s transportation system came from rapidly increasing energy prices, the impact of rapidly growing economies on Canada’s gateways and trade corridors, and the need to enhance transportation’s security,” he said.

Five commodities make up the bulk of truck hauling

However, the report acknowledged that in trucking at least, effects of rising fuel prices in 2005 were to a certain extent mitigated by the fact that many carriers, including owner-operators, had fuel cost escalation provisions built into their shipping contracts. “In both Canada and the United States, owner-operator associations focused on the issue, using the slogan: ‘Say no to cheap freight,'” the report states.

One notable exception, the report points out, is in the Vancouver drayage sector where independent truckers, frustrated at not being able to recoup rate increases or fuel surcharges, staged a six-week wildcat strike that ended only when the government legislated a mediator’s recommendation to incorporate rate increases as part of a licence provision for doing business in the port.

The study shows that five commodity groups accounted for 80 percent of total exports and 88 percent of total imports in 2004 and 2005: Automobiles and transportation equipment, machinery and electrical equipment, other manufacturing products, plastics and chemical products, and base metals/articles of base metal.

Not surprisingly, the busiest transborder trucking routes were in the autoparts and manufacturing rich Ontario-U.S. central region (accounting for $171.5 billion or 31 percent of total US/Canada trade in 2004); Ontario-US south region ($69.3 billion), and Ontario-US northeast region ($51.5 billion), accounting together for almost 80 percent of shipments.

The five largest border crossings for trucks in 2005 were the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor (25.8 per cent); the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia (13.4 per cent; the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie (9.4 per cent); the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge in Niagara Falls (7.2 per cent) and the Lacolle land border crossing in Quebec (5.7 per cent).

Heavy trucks crossing the Canada-US border decreased about one per cent in 2005 to 13.3 million two-way trips. (It also fell by one per cent in 2004 and has been doing about the same, on average, since 2001).

Domestically, trucking accounts for half of all freight market share with rail in second at 35 percent. Construction materials were the top commodities moved by truck interprovincially, followed by agricultural products, primary metals, metal and mineral products and energy products.

The main interprovincial trucking flow was the Quebec-Ontario route (both directions) accounting for $41 billion worth of commodities or 30 per cent of all interprovincial trade.

The top 10 for-hire trucking companies, based on total number of fleet units remained virtually unchanged in 2005 over the previous year, says the report, which reiterates Today’s Trucking’s 2005 annual for-hire carrier list.

While the list remained unchanged, there was much activity in the corner offices of many of those carriers, notes the report, which highlighted major acquisitions and mergers by TransForce, Vitran, Mullen, and Contrans as well as Western bulk giant Trimac’s re-organization into Canadian and U.S. operating entities last year.

The Transport Canada report did not provide updated price, productivity and financial performance data for the trucking industry, says the Canadian Trucking Alliance, but did state in general that carriers’ operating costs were affected by sharp increases in energy prices in 2005, and that average price increases for most transportation services were well below inflation.

“This just goes to show how important trucking is to Canada’s economy,” said Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley. “Sixty-three percent of Canada’s trade with the U.S. moves by truck. Border and highway infrastructure should be a major priority for federal and provincial governments.”