September 9, 2020 – The controversy surrounding unlicensed off-dock trucking at the Port of Vancouver deepened this week, with the Office of the B.C. Container Trucking Commissioner (OBCCTC) defending the work.

“The off-dock container trucking activity Unifor refers to as (a) ‘black market’ activity and the United Truckers Association (UTA) calls ‘illegal’, is not illegal,” Commissioner Michael Crawford said Tuesday. Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, had demanded a crackdown on what it called a large container trucking black market at the port, and the UTA is planning to hold a Labour Day protest outside the commissioner’s office to highlight the issue. The two groups say unlicensed truckers are moving containers off-dock within the Lower Mainland area at steeply discounted prices and undermining licensed, fee-paying companies. In a written response to Today’s Trucking, Crawford said that under the Container Trucking Act and Regulation, the commissioner has jurisdiction to regulate and licence container trucking work that requires access to a marine terminal. If a trucking company needs access to a marine terminal, it requires a licence and then must pay the commissioner’s trucking rates for on and off-dock work, he said. “Trucking companies engaged only in off-dock trucking are not required to have a licence, and do not fall within the scope of the Container Trucking Act and Regulation,” he said.