Canada in need of freight transportation policy: Bradley to shippers

TORONTO — Canada needs an economic policy that recognizes freight transportation issues while safeguarding public safety and the environment, not the other way around, Canadian Trucking Alliance CEO David Bradley says.

“Freight transportation needs to be a component of virtually every major policy directive of government, if freight carriers are to get policies from government that promote, rather than impede, productivity, innovation and investment in the sector,” Bradley told shippers today at the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association’s Transpo 2006 Conference & Exhibition in Toronto. “For too long freight transportation has either been taken for granted, or worse, viewed as a necessary evil not only by the governments that regulate us, but also at the most senior levels of the industries we serve.”

Supply in better demand with balance today: Bradley

Too much of the policy-makers’ focus has been on the societal costs of freight transportation while little attention has been paid to the benefits, continued Bradley. He said that the trucking industry gets little or no credit for advances made in technologies to reduce emissions from truck engines and fuels. The costs of these advances will ultimately be borne by shippers and carriers, he said, unless governments begin providing the same sort of tax relief for clean diesel fuel and engines that is available to other sectors.

Add to this the fact that purchase price of the 2007 model year engines is expected to increase by $8,000-$10,000 per truck, said Bradley. “The new engines are expected to cost more to operate, owing to a trade off for fuel efficiency, some say of up to five per cent, and higher maintenance costs. Who do you think is ultimately going to have to pay that?” Bradley asked.

It is important that shippers also understand that things are changing in the trucking industry, Bradley said. “Our industry is becoming more sophisticated. Insurance has in many ways become what many predicted it would back in the mid-1980s – the regulator of trucking. The focus on border security is raising the bar. Drivers want to be paid for all the time and services they provide. Why shouldn’t they?”

He said the trucking industry is emerging from the “bloodbath of deregulation,” with supply and demand now in better balance. Reputable carriers want competition to be based on service and price, where price includes the cost of compliance, Bradley said, pointing to the trucking associations’ endorsement of electronic on board monitoring and speed limiters as evidence.