Driver vaccine mandates haven’t snarled cross-border flow of goods, top trucking firm says

The CEO of one of North America’s top trucking firms brushed off concerns about vaccine mandates for drivers, just as anti-mandate protests continued across the country and cut off a critical trade crossing in Ontario.

Alain Bédard, chief executive of Montreal-based TFI International Inc., said the majority of his drivers in Canada are already vaccinated, and the few that aren’t are kept busy with domestic routes that don’t require crossing the border.

“For sure, there’s some small carriers in Canada that are having an issue,” Bédard said on a call with financial analysts on Feb. 8. “But at TFI, it is not an issue at all.”

In mid-January, the federal government cancelled an exemption that had previously allowed unvaccinated truckers to re-enter Canada without quarantining, riling some in an industry that has struggled for years to recruit an adequate number of drivers.

That frustration is what initially ignited the Freedom Convoy of trucks that descended on Ottawa before inspiring similar demonstrations in other cities this month. But those convoys and their organizers were quickly disavowed by industry leaders as the protest evolved beyond the vaccine mandate to take aim more broadly at COVID-19 restrictions.

Bédard said TFI saw the mandates coming and tried to convince drivers to get a shot with the message: “You’re free. You do whatever you want. OK, we get that. But guys, I mean, to cross the border, we know at one point it’s going to be an issue.”

On Tuesday, protests in Windsor continued to cut off access to the Ambassador Bridge, blocking what Premier Doug Ford called a “vital trade artery” that connects Ontario’s auto-manufacturing hub to Detroit.

The tolled suspension bridge boasts on its website that it allows for “$323 million worth of goods” to cross the Windsor-Detroit border daily.

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, called the blockade a “brain dead move” in a tweet, suggesting that workers could be temporarily laid off due to the delays.

Some truckers were able to cross the bridge into Detroit on Tuesday morning, but traffic was still fully blocked from crossing into Windsor, the Windsor Star reported.

“International commerce needs to resume,” bridge owner Matt Moroun said in a statement, according to the Star.

The transportation industry has been struggling to keep pace with a surge in orders to transport freight, due in part to widespread labour shortages. TFI has been overbooked in Canada since November and has been “taking advantage of market conditions,” Bédard said.

“The demand is more than supply,” he said. “And that’s why I’m saying that probably TFI will have its best-ever month of January.”

In its fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, TFI’s revenues increased 91 per cent to $2.1 billion, compared to the previous year. Earnings per share of $1.57 handily beat forecasts of $1.17, according to a report from the National Bank of Canada.

Financial Post

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