The Freedom Convoy that began in Canada to protest COVID-19 vaccine requirements is now being felt in the United States, as well as other parts of the world. Thursday promises to be a particularly newsworthy day.
FreightWaves will provide constant updates with this file as news develops.
Biden administration pushes Canada to end Ambassador Bridge blockade — and offers help to do it
The White House is urging the Canadian government to use its powers to bring an end to the protest blockade at the Ambassador Bridge and is offering to help make that happen, according to a CBC report.
The pressure from the White House comes amid increasingly alarming impacts that the closure of the busiest commercial crossing between U.S. and Canada is having on the supply chain and economy. Automakers have slowed down production at plants on both sides of the border because of delays with shipments.
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars of international trade being affected each day, the Windsor Police Service is leading the response. However, reinforcements and other support are coming from outside agencies including the Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
So far, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected calls for the federal government to intervene directly in the protests that are disrupting three border crossings and the capital, Ottawa.
Canadian court freezes access to funds raised for Freedom Convoy
The Ontario government has frozen access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the Freedom Convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and other Canada-U.S. border crossings.
The Canadian province obtained an order from Canada’s Superior Court of Justice Thursday afternoon prohibiting anyone from distributing donations made through GiveSendGo’s Freedom Convoy 2022 and Adopt-a-Trucker campaign pages.
In a statement, Ivana Yelich, spokesperson for Ontario Premier Doug Ford, said the province’s attorney general brought an application to the court for an order of restraint “prohibiting any person from disposing of, or otherwise dealing with, in any manner whatsoever, any and all monetary donations made through the Freedom Convoy 2022 and Adopt-a-Trucker campaign pages on the GiveSendGo online fundraising platform.”
Freedom Convoy organizers set up the fundraisers on Christian fundraising site GiveSendGo on Jan. 28. As of Thursday, Freedom Convoy 2022 had raised US$8.4 million and Adopt-a-Trucker had raised more than $686,000.
Freedom Convoy organizers had quickly moved to secure a new funding source last week after the popular GoFundMe platform closed off access to CA$10 million (US$7.9 million) in donations raised through its website.
GoFundMe said it stopped payments to convoy organizers and refunded donors directly because the protest violates its rules on violence and harassment. It’s not clear if all the donations have been refunded.
About $1 million from GoFundMe had been distributed to convoy organizers on Jan. 28., which was reportedly used to reimburse Canadians for gas and food expenses incurred while participating in a rally set to take place in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, last week.
Protests hit production at Ford, Toyota, Stellantis, GM plants as Windsor, automakers seek injunction to end Ambassador Bridge blockade
Three Toyota factories in Ontario are calling it a week, and Ford, Stellantis and General Motors say plants have been affected as well amid ongoing trucker protests at the U.S.-Canada border, BBC News reports.
Car parts aren’t reaching the plants because of blockades at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, and at Coutts, Alberta.
Auto industry disruptions include:
— Halting of production at three Ontario Toyota plants through the end of the week as well as at a Ford engine factory.
— Impacts on shifts at a Stellantis plant in Ontario. Stellantis owns Chrysler.
— Cancellation of two shifts at a GM SUV plant in Michigan.
Windsor officials and two auto industry trade groups want a judge to issue an injunction to end the Ambassador Bridge blockade, CBC reported. A judge for the Superior Court of Justice could get the request Thursday, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said.
Seeking the injunction are the city, the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association and the Chamber of Commerce.(BBC News)(CBC)
Live from the border: Trucks still waiting hours to get to Canada
FreightWaves reporter Grace Sharkey is reporting from Port Huron, Michigan, where trucks have been lining up to cross the Canadian border via the Blue Water Bridge because of the ongoing blockade of the Ambassador Bridge. Traffic was moving, albeit very slowly, Sharkey said. According to the Canada Border Service Agency, the wait to cross the border there has improved to two hours, compared to more than four hours on Wednesday.
“It’s still very inconvenient,” Sharkey said. “Let’s say you’re going from a warehouse near the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, you’re adding at least an hour if not an hour-half to get here and then two hours to get across the bridge. I guarantee that’s adding four hours of driving.”
Canadian trucking CEO: Border blockades ‘a pain’ but won’t ruin quarter
Murray Mullen, the CEO of one of Canada’s largest trucking companies, Alberta-based Mullen Group, told financial analysts that the border blockades were creating issues and raising costs.
“It’s been a pain, there’s no about that,” Mullen said.
Mullen likened impacts to other disruptions to the supply chain, such as the flooding in British Columbia in December.
“But you know, you have to work around it and costs are going out, ” Mullen said. “So you avoid those areas.”
Despite the disruption, Mullen did not seem very concerned about the impacts to his company’s bottom line. Mullen Group is Canada’s second-largest publicly traded trucking and logistics company, with operations stretching from Ontario to British Columbia.
“So net-net, I don’t think you’re going to hear me say, ‘Oh, my God, these things destroyed our quarter,'” he said.
Is the blockade reflected in SONAR data?
We asked FreightWaves’ Market Experts if any SONAR data reflected the ongoing blockade. Expert Mike Baudendistel responded:
“Not a lot yet in SONAR on cross-border lanes and shipments. The inbound/outbound Detroit tender data really hasn’t moved much in recent days so haven’t yet seen an impact there. Only thing that stands out to me is that SONAR does show spot rates on inbound Detroit lanes rising in recent days (see Chicago to Detroit). Might be a stretch (or a bridge too far) but could make the argument that on-demand capacity for inbound Detroit loads is more expensive — which could be related to the bridge shutdown, making truckers think there will be fewer reload opportunities with less coming across the border.”
Here is a SONAR chart showing the Outbound Tender Reject Index for both Canada (blue) and the U.S. (green).
Two more border crossings blocked
The Ambassador Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit is not the only Canada-U.S. route being blocked. At least two others have developed:
Coutts, Alberta, to Sweet Grass, Montana
Emerson, Manitoba, to Pembina, North Dakota (see Google Maps below)
Manitoba law enforcement officials issued this tweet.
Department of Homeland Security issues bulletin about Los Angeles protest
Several news outlets confirmed that the DHS issues a bulletin warning law enforcement agencies that a group of truckers is planning a protest this weekend in LA, site of Sunday’s Super Bowl. The bulletin said the protest will travel across the country and may reach Washington D.C. in time for President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 1.
According to senior law enforcement officials and documents obtained by Yahoo News, which broke the story, the warning circulated on Tuesday states that the agency “has received reports of a convoy of truckers planning to potentially block roads in major metropolitan cities in the United States in protest of, among other things, vaccine mandates for truck drivers.” (Yahoo News)
Watch: OOIDA’s Lewie Pugh discusses trucker protests
FourKites data on supply chain impact of protests
According to supply chain visibility platform FourKites, on-time delivery percentage for Canada-to-US travel declined by 13% week-over-week during the week of Jan. 29, potentially due to continuing impacts of the protests and blockades.
As of Feb 8, on-time delivery performance is trending down slightly for Canada-to-U.S. travel, and down almost 10% for US-to-Canada travel for Monday/Tuesday shipments, compared to Monday/Tuesday of the previous week.
Total shipment volumes for both directions worsened during the week of Jan 29. U.S.-to-Canada travel has generally recovered much quicker than Canada-to-US travel, though both may have been impacted by severe winter storms at the end of last week.
As of Feb 8, total shipment volume for Canada-to-US travel is trending up ~20%, while U.S.-to-Canda travel is trending down by ~10%, for Monday/Tuesday shipments, compared to Monday/Tuesday of the previous week.
Report: Freedom Convoy protests banned in Paris, Brussels
According to French-based CNN affiliate BFMTV, authorities in Paris and Brussels have announced a ban on protests linked to the Freedom Convoy scheduled to arrive in the French capital as early as Friday.
Demonstrators in France launched a similar initiative to the Canadian protests, with one convoy of around 100 people leaving Nice on Wednesday morning, according to BFMTV.
A map from the French convoy organizers shows protesters coming from across the country along five main routes toward Paris, then driving north to Brussels, Belgium’s capital. (CNN)
Protests expand to New Zealand’s capital; 120 arrested
In an NBC News report, police in New Zealand’s capital made more than 100 arrests as they moved to clear a protest camp outside the country’s parliament where thousands — inspired by the Freedom Convoy protests — had gathered to rally against Covid-19 restrictions.
“Around 120 people have now been arrested,” Wellington Police Superintendent Corrie Parnell said in a statement late Thursday afternoon. (NBC News)