Truckers protest commercial reservations

A group of truckers staged a protest on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Marine Atlantic terminal last week, on the same day that Marine Atlantic announced changes to the commercial reservation system they were protesting.

Chris Howlett of Akita Equipment and Auto Transport announced on an open-line radio show last Tuesday morning that he and other truckers would be starting their protest against the commercial reservation system that evening.

Later that morning, Marine Atlantic issued a press release listing some changes they would be making to the commercial reservation system.

A spokeswoman for Marine Atlantic said the changes came after an ongoing review of the system, and had been planned for some time.

Among the changes were reductions in how soon commercial vehicles must check in before sailing, the announcement of an online reservation system for commercial traffic, the creation of a waitlist system and a doubling of the time limit for cancellation without financial penalty.

The changes did not impress Henry Crocker, an employee with Akita who took part in the protest. He said they would do little to solve the problems smaller businesses and independent truckers have been facing.

About 20 truckers pulled their vehicles to the side of the road on the Trans-Canada Highway in a line on Tuesday night. Traffic was not impeded but RCMP advised motorists to use caution when approaching the terminal.

Truckers were handing out information pamphlets to drivers who stopped.

Mr. Crocker said he had a tractorload of vehicles parked in the protest line. He said he was unable to get a reservation until nine days later. He noted that the changes announced on Tuesday did not change his wait time at all.

Many of the others in the lineup faced the same seven- to-10-day wait, according to Mr. Crocker. At least one of those trucks had a load of fresh fish.

Mr. Crocker said the old first-come/first-served system for commercial traffic suited him and others just fine. He said a trucker approaching the terminal could easily count the number of trucks in line on the terminal grounds, and roughly calculate how long they would have to wait.

"Before, you could get a good night's sleep. Now you're up all night trying to make reservations," he said.

He noted that the online reservation system would be no good for truckers on the road, and said they're already not allowed to drive while using a cell-phone.

Before the commercial reservation system came into effect, Mr. Crocker said a round-trip from St. John's to Toronto used to take seven or eight days. The same trip is now taking 10 to 12 days, and costing him about one trip each month.

"A round trip is worth $10,000. In a year, that's $120,000," he said.

Although the truckers promised to continue their protest for days, there were no trucks to be seen by noon on Wednesday.

Don Barnes, vice-president of customer experience with Marine Atlantic, said spots opened up due to cancellations and the trucks involved in the protest were able to make Wednesday morning's crossing.

Mr. Barnes said one of the key changes in last week's announcement should allow for more last-minute bookings, such as the ones made by the protesters.

Because commercial vehicles must now cancel 24 hours in advance instead of 12 to avoid a fee, Marine Atlantic will have more last-minute bookings available on any given day.

Mr. Barnes said with most cancellations coming just 12 hours before the sailing, spots opened up too late for many commercial truckers to make use of them.

"We know there's a lot of folks who are looking for space and they aren't right there [at the terminal]. They need to be able to reach their customer, load up their vehicle, drive to the terminal and all those kinds of things," said Mr. Barnes. "A 24-hour cancellation policy will give them much greater access to bookings in a timely manner."

While acknowledging growing pains, Marine Atlantic insists that the commercial reservation system is working for the majority of its customers.

Tractor-trailer traffic transported by the Crown corporation has increased by 1,000 units or 11 per cent over the year before since April 1, two weeks into the launch of the commercial reservation system.

reporter@gulfnews.ca