Queuing on Interstate 69 leading to the Sarnia customs post, I’m worried. It’s been nearly five hours since the landscape from my truck window has changed and I have this sense of urgency that drives me to write you these few words.
Sitting behind the wheel of my 18-wheeler, I transport thousands of dollars in goods from Quebec to the United States every day. Like my colleagues, I do my best to make sure that nobody misses anything at the grocery store, at the hardware store, at the hospital or at the factory that manufactures the glasses or the shoes you wear.
However, I note that it is increasingly difficult to ensure the proper functioning of the supply chain and that the recent blockages at the borders are likely to cost us very dearly.
Since protesters have occupied central Ottawa or blocked access to border crossings, trucking prices have increased. From minute to minute, the overbidding deprives the manufacturers of options to ship their goods to their customers. Over the past few days, transportation companies — mine included — have seen an overstatement similar to what happened when the planet needed to buy face masks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This dramatic increase in trucking costs will necessarily be reflected in the price we will have to pay at checkout. In the United States, inflation was 7.5% in January. Unheard of for 40 years!
When I shop for groceries in American supermarkets, I witness particularly disturbing scenes: two customers arguing to get their hands on the last whole chicken in the supermarket. I also navigated between rows of stacked containers in US West Coast ports. I see that the price of diesel is now over US$5.25 in California and the price of Diet Pepsi is skyrocketing.
The supply chain has tweaked dramatically in recent years. The advent of artificial intelligence coupled with transport logistics research has brought a complete transformation of the industry.
In the age of ” Just in time », the big traders have reduced their storage spaces and replaced them with trucks. Thus, as soon as a product leaves the factory, it is delivered directly to the store and no longer needs to pass through a distribution center.
With this almost complete paralysis, each truck delay leads to losses that are difficult to fill. My delay will prevent a fellow trucker from leaving with my goods to a factory that lacks raw materials.
Already, automakers in southern Ontario have sent home thousands of workers. If only they knew that the parts they need are sleeping on my truck, three kilometers from their factory whose chimneys I can see on the horizon.