Businesses start feeling the pinch with little progress in Vancouver port strike

As positions seem to harden, the Vancouver port strike is starting to bite.

Several hundred non-union truckers who move containers to and from Vancouver's three main ports walked out almost a month ago over financially damaging cost-cutting among shippers and delays at the terminals. They were joined soon after by the more than a thousand unionized drivers, effectively shutting down container traffic.

There was hope on the weekend the dispute was headed for settlement after the federal and B.C. government, along with port officials, tabled a 14-point plan to address the truckers' concerns.

But they crashed Sunday when initial talks went sideways. Gavin McGarrigle of Unifor, which represents the unionized truckers, said the management team demanded drivers return to work as a precondition for talks, the Globe said.

“The first statement out of their mouths was, 'This isn’t a negotiation,’" McGarrigle recounted. "What about our concerns, we asked? 'Those are legitimate, but we won’t be talking about them before you get back to work.’

"We asked if we could have a mediator present, they repeated that it wasn’t a negotiation."

Port Metro Vancouver spokesman John Parker-Jervis seemed to confirm the take-it-or-leave-it aspect, confirming the government's plan "is not a negotiation."

[ Related: Port truckers' strike could cause disruptions across Canada ]

The port said in a weekend statement that once the port returns to full operation, mediator Vince Ready would oversee implementation of the plan. That position was reiterated by federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt.

Warnings that the stoppage at Canada's busiest port would soon have a ripple effect on the economy are being borne out.

Containers full of imported goods and exports waiting to be shipped are clogging the docks. Container-laden ships are waiting at anchor and some may end up going elsewhere to unload.

The Globe and Mail reports layoff notices have been sent out to industrial sectors affected by the stoppage, including sawmills. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday northern Alberta pulp mills face closure this week.

“In the latter part of this week we would expect our operations to be impacted,” James Gorman, CEO of the Council of Forest Industries, told the Bloomberg

Shippers meanwhile are looking for alternatives to get their goods out of the country.

“It is having certainly an impact on our export sales in a number of areas,” Wayne Roznowsky, a spokesman U.S.-based forest giant Weyerhaeuser Co., told Bloomberg. “In some cases we’re rerouting containers to the U.S. to try to get them to customers, so there’s additional cost there.”

Canadian National Railway spokesman Mark Hallman said CN is trying to identify alternative locations that can accept railcars.

Canadian importers are also feeling the pinch.

David Krygier, general manager of Calgary-based Oh! Naturals Flavoured Snacks Inc., told the Calgary Herald a container loaded with dried banana snacks from Vietnam has been stuck on the Vancouver docks since Feb. 22.

“We have commitments to our distributors, who have commitments to their retailers for our product,” Krygier said. “It’s nerve-racking, especially since we have no clear idea when this is going to end.”

The backlog of unprocessed containers is reaching the point where shipping lines will start having to divert vessels to other ports, Ruth Snowden, executive director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association, told the Herald.

“They’re going to have to deliver it to Seattle, Tacoma, or Portland instead, and then how do we get those goods back to Canada?” Snowden said. “It’s going to drive delays getting goods to shelves, everywhere in the country.”

Some, such as Canadian Tire, have begun to do that.

“Canadian Tire’s priority is to ensure our customers in Calgary and across the country have access to the products they need in our stores,” Canadian Tire associate vice-president Gary Fast told the Herald via email.

“To date, impacts to our stores have been minimal due to the inventory we maintain at our distribution centres; however we are experiencing delays from our normal lead time which could have inventory implications in the weeks and months to come.”

Alberta's agriculture industry, which last year exported more than half a million tonnes of meat, including 58,000 tonnes of boxed beef, through Vancouver, sees a potential impact on its sales.

“We’re anxious and we’re concerned,” John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, told the Herald. “What we’re hearing from the packers is there’s starting to be a lot of difficulty with product moving through the port.”

[ Related: Vancouver truckers strike: Port threatens to revoke permits ]

Meanwhile, Ottawa and port officials are ratcheting up the pressure, saying truckers could lose their permits to service the port if they don't return to work.

“We’re ready at any time to talk, but so far all we’ve received is an ultimatum,” McGarrigle told the Globe.

Vancouver handles $885 million in cargo every week, about half of it bulk commodities such as coal and grain, but most of the rest via containers.

The last strike at the port in 2005, over exactly the same issues, lasted six weeks. Truckers walked out this time because they said the mediated settlement designed to address their concerns was not implemented as promised.

"We’ve been trying for eight years to resolve these issues, and a negotiated agreement is the only sustainable solution," McGarrigle said in a statement released after talks broke down Sunday.

"After that length of time, the port’s 'trust us' approach simply isn’t enough for our members."