OTTAWA, Ontario — Thousands of truck drivers have descended on Canada’s Parliament in recent days, clogging the streets of the Canadian capital and blocking U.S.-Canadian border crossings in response to a Jan. 15 government vaccine mandate requiring truckers returning from the U.S. to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dubbed the “Freedom Convoy,” and originating in western British Columbia, the truckers and a growing number of individual protesters have vocalized what they perceive as an overreach of the Canadian government. But with some Canadian truck drivers taking part in the demonstration, and blockading strategic U.S.-Canadian borders locations, will railroads capture temporary business as shippers turn to rail to avoid further supply chain disturbances?
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Omar Alghabra, Canada’s Minister of Transport, says the vaccine mandate has had no significant impact on the volume of trucks crossing the border. He also says that doesn’t mean there aren’t supply chain issues, nor does it mean shippers aren’t finding enough truckers to carry their loads. Citing government data, Alghabra says approximately 100,000 trucks entered Canada in the week following the vaccine mandate, with a similar figure last week. Cross-border traffic is on par with the same volume recorded last fall, according to the most recent data.
But the U.S. Transportation Intermediaries Association, a trade group representing freight brokers, also said in the Journal article that vaccine requirements are slowing cross-border freight. According to a statement by the association’s chief executive, its members are experiencing freight delays of seven to 14 days and growing, citing a shortage of drivers.
So far, neither the vaccine mandate nor the protests have significantly bolstered carloads for Canada’s Class I railroads, making it difficult to pinpoint if railroads are capturing temporary business.
Canadian Pacific moved 52,508 carloads in the week ending Jan. 29, or 4.6% fewer carloads than a year ago. This was driven by decreased automotive and grain shipments, but partially offset by more shipments of fertilizers, forest products, and coal. Intermodal shipments also saw modest gains for the week.
Canadian National handled 106,269 carloads for the same period, or 6.2% fewer carloads than a year ago. CN saw a similar drop in grain and automotive shipments drag down total volume, even as the railroad saw modest gains in coal, primary forest products, petroleum, and scrap shipments. CN’s intermodal business was down 12% for the week, compared to year-over-year volume.
It may be too early to determine if Canadian railroads are capturing highway volume, but a close eye on carload trends with truck-competitive commodity groups like forestry products may provide broader insights into how products are flowing across the border as the pandemic maintains its grasp on the supply chain.
Just a quick comment on Mr Johanson remarks – the trucker’s trade association has disavowed the convoy.
Over 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated. The protest is a tantrum, no more.
Not to mention most of the protestors aren’t even truckers to begin with. Those watching the convoy go by saw a whole lot of vans and cars.
This story is really about railroad opportunism, not why the truckers are protesting and the foundations of it. Unless one digs deep into the core causes of why they are protesting in the first place, then one cant acquire the context.
What I found abhorrent was Justin Trudeau leaving town and then having a presser calling the truckers racists, bigots, unpatriotic misinformationists. If memory serves that is not what he called the First Nations protesters blocking the trains last year.
When one uses outrageous derogatory speech to counter the voices of ones citizens, its a sign that the PM is incredibly out of touch with his constituents.
They flew Nazi and Confederate flags on Parliament Hill (and other locations) and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – while using the rest of the National War Memorial as a bathroom and parking lot. If it honks like a goose and steps like a goose…
Please don’t judge the actions and intentions of thousands by the bad actions of a VERY small subgroup who might well have been plants.
What a lot of news outlets omitted was the PM’s security detailed moved Trudeau and his family due to security threats.
I absolutely agree though these protesters are being verbally treated completely opposite to how the rail / pipeline protesters have been by Trudeau, double standard,
Not how any leader should preform.
p.s. And yes it is a very few throwing a tantrum against 90% of the hard working truckers who go about their job.
Nazi, Confederate flags, dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier have no place in Canada
The rail/pipeline protests were a) broken up, b) followed by arrests, and c) protesting decades/centuries of marginalization. These guys are protesting a status they chose for themselves, and a regulation that’s in force on both sides of the border. Even if Ottawa did cave, the US still won’t let them in. They’re crying over nothing.
David, by and large I fully support the native protesters. You obviously don’t live near Caledonia, many many protests and blockades and destruction of rail and roadway and with exception almost no arrests.
That kind of thing happens when you build houses on somebody else’s land.
If they’re all plants and in the minority, why are the others not giving them the boot? All they seem to be doing is harassing people who live in downtown Ottawa and making themselves more and more unwelcome. “Peaceful” protests don’t desecrate war memorials, blockade hospitals, or harass homeless shelters.
I have seen news reports of the protesters kicking out people who were defacing monuments or flying certain flags. They were definitely a minority.
Are firms really able to pivot quickly enough from transport vendors? I suppose if this is a sustained thing, maybe, but probably not in the short term.
I admire the trade association trying to pin issues on vaccine mandates when the most direct evidence (border crossings) show no change and an increase in delay days could be driven by a multitude of factors that almost certainly are broken out by root cause.
I should say “are not broken out by root cause”
Charles, while I abhor your politically shaded rants/posts, in this instance you’re spot on.
What railroad has either the capability, or else the desire, to capitalize on a change in circumstances?
This could be the opportunity for the rails to go after traffic in the hopes of keeping it when the trucking situation returns to normal. But they won’t do so.