Meat ban ‘chaotic’ for Canadian shippers and carriers

EDMONTON (May 21, 2003) — The ripple effect of a single cow confirmed to contain mad cow disease in Alberta is spreading across the country, crippling livestock trade in both Western and Eastern Canada.

The U.S. shut down the border to all shipments of meat and live cattle yesterday, after the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy — otherwise known as mad cow disease — was confirmed on a cow scheduled for slaughter near Edmonton. Japan, Australia, and South Korea have also followed suit in banning Canadian meat.

Trucks carrying meat or livestock into the U.S. have been turned around at the border by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and much of the cattle is being returned to the farms they originated from. About 20,000 loads of cattle a year are destined for the U.S., and Alberta makes up 75 per cent of Canada’s $4 billion beef and cattle industry.

The situation has begun to affect other transportation sectors as the ban, coupled with the terror alert status raised to Code Orange, has added several hours to already lengthy border-wait times. At the Port Huron, Mich. crossing, U.S. Customs began turning back shipments of Toronto garbage headed for Michigan possibly over fears that some of the waste contained meat. Toronto’s director of waste management told the Canadian Press he’s sure it’s because of concerns over mad-cow disease.

“It appears the decision was made by the U.S. Customs people and they’re very difficult to deal with,” Angelos Bacopoulos told the news service. “Sometimes they have a mind of their own and the more you resist them at times the more they get their back up.”

Cattle haulers contacted by Today’s Trucking have uniformly called the current situation “chaotic.” The meat ban is another case of strained trade relations, compacted by on-going security measures and border tie-ups, depressed markets, and a rising Canadian dollar, which is clipping profit margins for carriers and shippers that transport goods to the U.S. “It’s devastating the market,” says Ed Vanee, manager of Fort MacLeod, Alta.-based Vanee Livestock. “The market already dropped $10 overnight, and we’re already at a deficit on account of the (depressed) U.S. dollar.”

Domestic livestock business has also been hit. Livestock yards and sales auctions have been suspended, the price of beef has plummeted, and layoffs notices at slaughter houses have already been handed out as it’s expected consumer confidence will continue to fall until officials can determine the case is truly isolated. “In the short term, the average Joe on the street is saying ‘I’ll eat the meat in my freezer, but I’m not going to buy any more until I know things are secure,'” says Kim Royal, executive director of the Alberta Motor Transport Association. “That is having a ripple effect through the whole chain.”

Both Canadian and U.S. health officials are urgently trying to trace the history of the cow and discover whether it was imported from another country and already had BSE or, worse still, picked it up in Canada. Royal says it’s important the testing process is expedited this time around, and the ban lifted before companies that rely on exports to the U.S. start going out of business.

“The longer this drags on, the bigger impact it has on the entire industry,” he says, ‘and it’s not just trucking, this is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s huge.”

–with files from CP