VANCOUVER—Scores of container drivers in Vancouver downed tools yesterday to protest what they see as unfair  shipping practices.

According to local reports, the organization called The United Truckers Association (UTA) informed the port management Monday via email that the work stoppage is a response to what the truckers see as the port operators’ refusal to make necessary changes.

The organization staged a rally in October to voice their protests and organizers say another will probably happen today.

According to the Delta Optimist newspaper, late last year UTA asked to be guaranteed “a one-hour turn-around time; that they be paid an hourly rate if they have to wait for over an hour; and that the port stop granting temporary trucking licenses.

Port authorities agreed to limit issuing new licences and also to install a GPS system for better traffic management. 

Port authorities say they are determined to keep the ports open but in a story that appeared in the Vancouver Sun this morning, the port’s vice president of planning and operations Peter Xotta warned the action will have a “very serious impact on port operations in a very short period of time.”  Trucking accounts for about half of all activity at PMV and that trucks handle roughly 50 per cent of all containers, the Sun reported.

Watch Todaystrucking.com for more details.