Is it all talk, or are they serious this time? The buzz is that some of the nation’s top importers are so incensed over yet another labour disruption at Canada’s largest port, that they’re seriously considering making contingency plans implemented quite permanent.

Regional B.C. businesses as well as national retailers that bring goods in through the Port of Vancouver say they’re losing patience with the port as well as the transport providers that service it.

It’s not difficult to see why. Not only is the port itself overwhelmed on a good day, it has also been the stage for a series of labour battles over the last few years, including: a nine-day strike by tug and barge operators; a month-long dispute at Canadian National Railway; and a dockworkers strike in late 1999. Truckers who haul containers at the port have also staged multiple protests over the last decade. But the most recent had by far the most serious impact.

About 1200 owner-operators — represented by the ad-hoc Vancouver Container Truck Association — parked their trucks on June 27 in order to get higher haulage rates and fuel surcharges from their carrier companies, who said they agreed the truckers should get a raise but their own customers wouldn’t cover the cost. The strike lasted six more weeks, so here’s the short version of what followed:

After several meetings brokered by government mediator Vince Ready failed to spark a deal — and a handful of frustrated truckers reacting by allegedly machine-gunning equipment of carriers who crossed picket lines — the Vancouver Port Authority stepped in and implemented an interim licence provision for carriers that work the port. The catch was that carriers who obtain a licence would automatically be accepting the terms laid out in Ready’s final proposal, a plan approved by 90 percent of VCTA truckers and unanimously rejected by the trucking firms.

With the threat of being shut out of the port, most carriers signed up for the VPA licence anyway. Only a handful refused and vowed to take the VPA to court. But even as most of the truckers went back to work and the stack of piled containers was slowly cut down and moved out, the confusion continued.

That’s because long-haul carriers running their own trucks with employee drivers were also dragged into the fray, as the VPA apparently required them to obtain a licence as well. This despite the fact they had nothing to do with the VPA or the labour conflict.

The B.C. Trucking Association urged Transport Canada to reverse this decision. In a letter to Minister Jean Lapierre and the VPA, BCTA President Paul Landry blasted the government for “inexplicably” accepting the provision to include hundreds of other fleets in long-haul operations, with “entirely different business models and compensation agreements” than what the VCTA drivers were negotiating.

“[This] makes no sense whatsoever,” Landry wrote. “Surely the federal government does not expect a trucking company that has contracted with independent contactors for service based on hourly rates (including wait times) to convert to trip rates?

” … Surely, the federal government does not intend for trucking companies serving the Lower Mainland ports with employee drivers to fire them and sell their equipment in favour of independent contractors?”

Forcing companies into the independent contractor model has the potential to cause significant disruption to hundreds of stable companies, Landry adds. “Also the federal government has established a precedent that has not been lost on independent contractors everywhere.” The government had not responded at press time.

Some businesses that saw their goods held hostage at the port for over a month now wonder about its long-term stability. If the port’s reputation continues to take a hits like this, there’s a chance that freight may be routed to other gateways, some trade experts predict.

Ocean carrier Halterm Limited certainly sees room for alternative routing of China-based goods. It will start providing container handling services in Halifax for connecting China and Southeast Asia to the North American east coast via the Suez Canal.

“Right now, you can’t afford any delay, let alone any loss of customers. It’s not just labour issues, but capacity too, and problems with the rail system as well,” Jayson Myers, senior vice-president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters association, told Today’s Trucking. “So when you look at delivering a product from [the west] to Montreal, there really isn’t that much of a difference between using a U.S. port versus Vancouver. I think it’s these types of problems that will make companies, at best, make sure that they have alternatives or other logistics plans in place, and at worst, this could be a signal of a shift to other ports indefinitely.”