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Unifor, the union representing truckers at Port Metro Vancouver, has said the port has ordered trucks older than 10 years be restricted from the port starting in 2019 — costing its membership tens of thousands of dollars each.
Unifor B.C. area director Gavin McGarrigle said the port currently requires trucks older than 2005 to be retrofitted with an emissions-filtering device that allows them to meet environmental requirements.
But come 2019, only vehicles built in 2009 or newer will be allowed to service the port, the union said in its application to federal court.
Port Metro Vancouver could not comment on the case, saying it was before the courts. But its materials suggest the truck age requirement would be implemented even sooner — as of Jan. 1 2016, the port said, "any new truck requiring approval"
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must be from 2010 or newer, though existing approved trucks reapplying have until 2019.
"They never outlined any rationale for this other than this is a good idea, and they don’t even require their vehicles at the port to follow it," McGarrigle said. "The trucks are safe, they meet emissions standards for anywhere in Canada and they can go to the United States. The only place they can’t go is Port Metro Vancouver."
The union is filing to court to declare the port’s truck licensing system as unreasonable and in violation of the law, and to keep the old regulations until an environmental, economic and social viability and impact study is done.
For more of the Vancouver 24 story: vancouver.24hrs.ca
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