Cross-Border Truck Trips Down in 2007;

Cross-Border Truck Trips Down in 2007;
Further Proof of Troubled Ontario Economy

(January 14, 2008) – The number of cross-border truck trips between Ontario and the US fell for the third straight year in 2007 to its lowest point since 1998, according to figures compiled by the Bridge and Tunnel Operator’s Association. OTA president David Bradley called the numbers “clear and unequivocal evidence of the extent to which Ontario’s export based economy has been battered by the combination of a high dollar, high fuel costs, the ever-increasing thickening of the border, and slackening US demand”.

In 2007, there were 8,049,136 truck trips across the Ontario-US border, down from 8,267,931 trips in 2006, a decrease of 2.6%. This is the lowest number of cross border truck trips in almost a decade and the lowest number since 1998. Even in 2001, the year in which “9/11” occurred, there were 72,000 more cross-border truck trips than in 2007.

“Trucking activity is a leading economic indicator, and these numbers should be a wake up call to governments at all levels that there is a very real need for them to act now to help Ontario’s economy cope with the challenges currently confronting it”, Bradley said.

“We think it is time for the Bank of Canada to aggressively reduce interest rates in Canada in order to spur economic growth and to moderate the value of the dollar,” he said.

Moreover, Bradley said “the costs and difficulties of crossing the border are seriously undermining Ontario’s ability to trade in the US market.” He said that “despite the investment of millions of dollars by the trucking industry in new security measures supposedly designed to facilitate legitimate trade, wait times at the border have not come down, and in many cases we are still subject to frequent, long delays.” He also lamented the fact that the final report from the bi-national group determining where a second border crossing in Windsor is to be located – which was due in 2007 – has been delayed yet again.

“We need better infrastructure and we need governments on both sides of the border to get serious about coordinating, harmonizing and improving the delivery of border security programs so that both security and trade facilitation goals are met,” he said.

It is also imperative that Ontario introduce measures to recoup efficiency and productivity lost in the supply chain. “The border doesn’t just start in Windsor, Sarnia or Fort Erie; it starts wherever goods such as parts are picked up or delivered to in the province.” Ontario’s manufacturing and retail sectors are asking that truckers be allowed to use more productive trucks, presently utilized in most other Canadian provinces and about half the US states. OTA is also seeking incentives for investment in these and other more fuel efficient vehicles they call enviroTrucks.

Says Bradley, “If Ontario, indeed if North America is going to compete with the emerging economies, we are not going to do it by lowering wages to third world levels. We’re going to have to be smarter.”

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