Vancouver to raise bar for drayage fleet

Vancouver to raise bar for drayage fleet The port authority of Vancouver, Canada, announced plans Tuesday to introduce more rigorous safety and environmental standards by July for shuttle trucks that pick up and deliver ocean containers.
   The port authority also endorsed tougher government inspection standards for truck fleets serving the port.
   The call for more rigorous inspections comes on the heels of a three-day safety inspection conducted by local police and British Columbia transportation personnel, in which 114 out of 250 container trucks failed to meet safety standards, the Vancouver Port Authority said.
   “These results are unacceptable to the port authority, to the communities in which we operate, and to the trucking industry as a whole,” said Chris Badger, VPA’s vice president for customer development and operations, in a statement. “The VPA is putting the operators of unsafe container trucks on notice here; substandard equipment will not be allowed on port property.”
   The VPA has the benefit of a new truck licensing system it instituted in January that gives it the ability to control who serves the port. The system also includes audit and enforcement provisions for drayage truck operations.
   Under the licensing system truckers must comply with existing environmental and safety laws. But the VPA said it wants trucks on its property to exceed existing standards. It is using the licenses to force most independent truckers to become employees of established trucking companies in an effort to reduce cutthroat competition that prevents truck operators from investing in better equipment. New licenses are only given to trucking companies, not individuals.
   Ports are under close scrutiny in many countries these days because diesel emissions from vessels, trucks and equipment are disproportionately contributing to local air pollution problems. Ports are responding with ways to mitigate the effects of operations so that they can continue to handle the huge flow of international trade without government interference.
   To read more about the only truck licensing system in North America, see the March issue of American Shipper, page 68.