Port truckers held a convoy in Vancouver to protest new container licence rules

In May 2024, more than 100 container trucks took part in a rolling convoy from Delta, B.C., to the Port of Vancouver. They were protesting new licensing requirements from the Office of the B.C. Container Trucking Commissioner (OBCCTC).

The rule

In a report released May 2, the OBCCTC said that, to renew their truck tags (licences to haul port containers) in November 2024, licence holders must not enter into any agreement, arrangement or understanding to provide on- or off-dock services with non-licensees doing off-dock drayage in the Lower Mainland. About 1,600 tags were held by 74 companies.

Commissioner Glen MacInnes said the change was meant to close loopholes. Some licensees, he said, had arranged for unlicensed companies to hold contracts and then subcontract the work back, so drivers were not paid the regulated rates. He said the rules followed four months of consultation and were not meant to stop all business between licensees and non-licensees. The OBCCTC also announced a $2-an-hour increase to regulated driver rates from July 1, 2024.

The protest

The convoy was organized by the PTA, an association of port trucking companies that said it represented holders of about half the tags. Spokesperson Tom Johnson, owner of Delta-based Kimberly Transport, said the rule would stop small and mid-sized carriers from working with their own non-licensed divisions, including long-haul operations. He said it could cut their business in half.

The PTA asked B.C. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming to review the commissioner's powers under the Container Trucking Act, and wanted existing small and mid-sized companies grandfathered in.