Nova Scotia truckers: no surcharge, no road salt

HALIFAX (Feb. 8, 2000) — Truckers in Nova Scotia who haul road salt for the province said yesterday they would stop deliveries because the government has not responded to repeated requests for a fuel surcharge.

Earl Germaine, president of the Truckers Association of Nova Scotia, told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald that the 21 district presidents in the organization agreed to stop hauling salt to provincial depots unless the government starts paying a surcharge of 21.6 cents per kilometre.

He bases the requested surcharge on a 19.3-cents-per-litre increase in the cost of fuel between October and Jan. 29.

Transportation Department spokesman Chris Welner said the department is trying to organize a meeting with the group for later this week. Until then, he said, there’s enough salt in the approximately 70 depots across the province to ensure public safety.

Germaine, who represents about 900 truckers, said that for every cent the price of diesel fuel goes up, it costs 1.12 cents per kilometre more to haul a loaded truck