Marine Atlantic ‘cash grab’ cost truckers $1M: MP
CORNER BROOK — Marine Atlantic’s commercial reservation system has dinged Atlantic truckers over $1 million in penalties and fees.
The information was obtained by Liberal MP Gerry Byrne, according to the Western Star newspaper.
Byrne, a senior member of the parliamentary oversight committee on national transportation issues, called it a "cash grab" collected "on the backs of the trucking industry."
The reservation was launched a year ago and cancelled in November after months of complaints by small carriers and owner-operators.
Byrne said that the amount supports truckers’ claims that the system was costly and inefficient.
He added that he thinks larger companies were block-booking spots and canceling them at the last minute to hurt independent truckers.
"There was reservations that were being booked with no intent of ever actually using them," he told the Star.
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