Rate game changes for Olympic trucking

VANCOUVER — The folks who recommend what Canadian truckers should charge for their services are warning shippers who need deliveries in and out of Vancouver’s core to prepare to open their wallets during the 2010 Olympics.

The Freight Carriers Association based in Fort Erie, Ont. says trucking companies serving the area may need to consider increasing rates or adding an operational surcharge in order to recoup at least a portion of increased transport costs associated with traffic restrictions and congestion in Vancouver later next month.

TCA cites the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta — a similar congested urban environment like Vancouver — where truckers were paid anywhere from $20 to $200 in surcharges. Given the rate of inflation and general operating cost increases in the past 14 years, the amount of the surcharges in Vancity will likely be higher.

Whether trucking companies take TCA’s advice or not, Vancouver is putting the finishing touches on its Olympic Transportation Plan (OTP), which included changes to the downtown core’s truck routes and changes to the noise bylaws to allow off-peak deliveries.

While the actual Olympic events have yet to start, many of the OTP changes have already taken effect and will be in effect until the end of the Paralympic Games in March.

The city is encouraging carriers to make deliveries through the downtown area from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. as the noise bylaw has been lifted throughout that time. However, the city has no say in the time deliveries can be made.

TCA says these expectations will probably lead to higher costs for carriers as truckers try to work around Vancouver’s traffic restrictions.