At Last, Autoroute 30, and it won’t only profit to trucking

I was quite joyful when I got the press release from the governments, because the federal is also involved in this project, which announces the selection of the partner chosen for the construction of this mystic road we are awaiting for the past 2 generations if not 3.

Here is how it translates, because most releases from the Quebec government is in French:
“The governments of Canada and Quebec are announcing the choice of Nouvelle Autoroute 30 S.E.N.C., to conclude the partnerships that will last 35 years for the conception, construction, financing, management, maintenance and rehabilitation of the prolongation of Autoroute 30.”

For your information, who is behind this company that is the private partner?

Acciona Concessions Canada Inc.
Iridium Concessions Canada Inc.
Acciona Infrastructures Canada Inc.
Dragados Canada Inc.
S.I.C.E.
Arup Canada Inc.
Construction DJL Inc.
Verreault Inc.

However, don’t be fooled by the names. Here are the real names.

Acciona Concessions S.L. a division of Acciona S.A. from Spain
Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras S.A. also from Spain
Acciona Infrastructures S.L. is another division of the first company
Dragados is a branch of Grupo ACS from Spain
S.I.C.E. is headquartered in Madrid
Arup is based in London UK
Construction DJL Inc. is from Boucherville PQ
Verreault Inc just got bought by Dessau also in Québec.

The top four companies are the ones that are going to manage, and finance the project. Arup is a specialist of electronic tolling, systems similar to the ETR407 and requires no manual tolls. The last two, from Quebec, are specialised in engineering and construction.

Who will get the bigger part of the financial pie?

I am not totally opposed to projects with private public partnership for a new infrastructure, even if we have been waiting for that roadway over 30 years now. Either the road passes on the north way along route 132 or in the middle of corn fields, what bothers me is that no company based in North America was chosen. Don’t we have any companies that can finance and manage such a project here, this side of the pond?

Was the proposal made by SNC-Lavalin not interesting enough for our governments?

We are on the edge of a meltdown of our economy and our government’s gives away to overseas interests contracts that the greater financial fallbacks are going to line pocket of strangers.

To take words of a former Prime Minister of Quebec, Master of our destiny (Maître chez nous), well I am not that sure of it.

3 Years, 3 Ministers, One Election Later…

It took 3 years, 3 Ministers and one election to arrive at a vote on Bill 41 in Queen’s Park, the Ontario legislative assembly yesterday June 16th. What is Bill 41? This is the measures that are going to limit your traveling speed at 105Kh/h across North America if you have to pass in Ontario.

Here in Quebec, last December, Minister Boulet confirmed that the dispositions included in the Quebec Bill 42 on speed limiters, won’t be in effect until all Canadian provinces adopt measures of the same kind for heavy trucks. We should remind her of this and that currently, only Ontario has passed a Bill that the applications are still in the hands of the Lieutenant Governor of the province.

Like if the rising costs of operations alone were not enough to slow down any professional driver that owns a truck. There are still some steps to be taken by the Owner Operators associations even if the assembly has voted.

I would like to apologise on the comments I had last week looking at the results of the online petition. It was the deception of the numbers considering how many professional drivers are going to be impacted across the continent.

Canadian, Ontario and Quebec Truckers are gutless

Only loud mouths on talk radio, on the CB and in truck-stops.

For the last three years, many papers, myself, on this blog and on XM Radio have tried to rally most of you and inform you about serious topics.

How many times have I warned you about the plans of the CTA and its board?

I had put online a petition on July 8^th 2007 so you could have a place to register your concerns about the proposal of large carriers and the Ministers of Transport in Ontario and Quebec to limit your income way before the oil companies took care of it with overpriced fuel.

For almost 11 months, only 956 persons, many of then Americans and people not even driving trucks, have put their names to this petition. If I consider that only in Quebec there are over 160,000 CDL or Class 1 holders and the majority of them are going to be affected by these measures. I can allow myself to simply say that many have no guts to fight for their rights and still accept submission without doing a thing about it.

I have thrown the towel, I sold my truck. I have resigned myself not to let a third party tell me how to conduct myself just like a preschooler. Yes I am still a Professional Driver, a modern day Cow-boy. The past motto on the Quebec plates was “The Beautiful Province” (La Belle Province) that was way before it became a poutine restaurant chain, now it is “I Remember” (Je me souviens) and I will keep in memory the days I could still operate my small trucking business the way I wanted.

If you wanted to sign the petition, it’s too late, I closed it.

While the Trucking Industry is in Crisis…

What are doing Minister Julie Boulet in Quebec and Minister Jim Bradley in Ontario to help the trucking industry?

One is passing a bill to mandate speed limiters on all heavy trucks, for safety and reduction of GHG’s, while the other one is announcing that 60M$ of our tax money is granted for intermodal transportation of goods in an effort to also reduce GHG’s and truck traffic on the roads.

Mandatory speed limiters, as described in Bill 41 proposed by Minister Bradley, may have some benefits for carriers based in Ontario by limiting the competition and putting another regulation on carriers using the roadways of the province to get elsewhere. (See link to the Bill). This doesn’t help to get a relief from the cost of fuel. http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/committee-proceedings/committee_business.do?Busin
essType=Bill&BillID=1959&locale=en&CommID=7348.

Across the provincial line, Minister Boulet will, with funds for grants,favour projects from promoters to develop inter or multimodal structures for the transportation of goods helped by Minister Beauchamps in order to reduce the 38% of gases made by the transport of goods. This either doesn’t help to get a fare rate with the rising costs of operations.

With the idling economy, factories closing almost weekly and the limited growth of the population, soon we won’t be carrying anything and we won’t be responsible of 38% of the GHG’s anyways.

I have a few ideas for the Ministers

1- We could make the world biggest network of canals to remote areas of the province and attract new tourism.
2- Ask Canada Post to replace motorised mail distribution in rural areas by pigeons. This may not reduce a lot of GHG but would give some relief to statues and spread out of the squares and parks the droppings.
3- Transform bike paths that are on old railroad tracks in railroad tracks to also help the remote areas and put people back on the trains like in the past.

Can we hope for some help from our governments to pass through this crisis with these kind of announces?
Make your own opinion, mine is made already.

Getting Back on Tracks

It is hard for someone, and I am only human, to get over the emotional shock of admitting a defeat. Being the winner is more gratifying even if this is an emotional shock too. It’s a long process that only time can heal but, when I decided to look at the snow melt on my truck and the grass grow under, it’s was also the income generator that I parked. Other decision had to be taken and they took time to accept.

One of the decisions was to only look at the grass grow, not under the truck no more. I had to clean the spot. Like many of us, I often said that I would make a lawn ornament with it and plant flowers around. I resign to the idea on 2 simple reasons, first I have no gardening skills, I needed the money to start up another project and I need to eat some square meals once in a while.

The thing that moves me this week other then the rising curve of diesel prices, is the steps forward of the Bill of Ontario’s Transport Minister Jim Bradley to mandate speed limiters as asked by his homonym David Bradley head of the CTA.

I’ll comment later this week on that topic.

I’m getting back on tracks. At least the Bradley Duo will have done something good for me...

April 1st, Not Only April's Fool

Too many said:"You can't get 2 truckers to agree on the time of day", This is the proof they were wrong. In Illinois, in Georgia, in Florida and in New Jersey, Independant drivers have started to make their point. We are not picking up the tab for every one else no more.

I will not blame anyone for a peaceful but yet powerful action. We are consumers too and we need the abuse taken from us stopped. We need to refuse to be put out of business to please shippers.

If you run on a contract that is leaving you with a profit you can live with, that's great and keep it up. On the other hand, if you are not making a decent profit out of your loads, leave them on the docks.

SAY NO TO CHEAP FREIGHT!

Fuel, Fuel, Fuel, When You Take a Hold at our Cahoonies…

The hot topic on trucking talk radio these days, everywhere in North America, is the rising cost of fuel and the turn down of many customers to pay a fuel surcharge in order to help the industry with these increases and the ones to come.

The word is out about a strike in the trucking community but, the only ones that can do a strike are the unionized drivers and this is towards an employer that refuses to negotiate a working contract. The correct words to use by owner operators and non-unionized drivers would be a voluntary stopping period by solidarity. It could be a day or more, why not! Many rumours are that this could happen on April 1^st, unless this is an April Fools day joke. I hope we will see a strong solidarity among the industry.

For the ones that don’t get their fare share of compensation for the high priced fuel, many are going to say that they need the income, so little it is. To loose one day of income is nothing compared to the losses you may have in a very short period of time if nothing is done to correct this situation.

It is not to our governments to take action on this matter. They can help us by taking down some taxes they get from the sales of fuels but our Honourable Ministers of Finances are all smiles with these new revenues coming in to the provinces. The higher the price is, the more money comes in from the percentage of the taxes. Personally, I saw this past week my first fuel bill with four digits between the dollar sign and the decimal point. Will we soon have to deal with a credit officer at the fuel desk instead of a cashier?

Before I took the decision of parking my tractor, my fuel costs were over 65% of my gross income. After many talk with the carrier I was leased with to adjust my fuel surcharge, and the same amount of no’s I got, I pulled the tractor beside the house and I decided to look at the snow melt on it. I currently drive as an independent driver for a small carrier I know in my area.

Many won’t be making the line at to renew their plates in Quebec on March 31^st and many are going to park some trucks nose to the fence until the crisis ends. How long is this crisis going to last?

I can’t tell because I don’t have a crystal ball. The one I used to predict the fuel would be at the $4 dollar mark before the end of summer was wrong. It happened before spring has settled in. As long as there are some carriers, small or large, that is going to haul freight at a cut rate, as long as the trucking association and the Owner-operator association won’t do a spectacular thing toward customers that still think that revenues are plentiful, this crisis will last.

Unless, and I am purely speculating, this is economic terrorism?

For the time being, why not do it this Tuesday and use a modified version of a popular racing phrase: “Gentlemen, do not start your engines!”