12 May 2004

Province, Consul General (Buffalo) Assisting OTA to Get FDA to Release Food Shipments at the Border on Weekends

The following article is excerpted from the Ontario Trucking Association daily news on 11 May 2004.

At the request of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA), the Province of Ontario and the Consul General (Buffalo) have come to the assistance of Ontario carriers and their customers exporting product subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection.

… OTA is attempting to ensure that FDA has enough resources to provide weekend staff coverage to allow trucking companies and their customers to receive formal release of their shipments at the border on Saturdays and/or Sundays. This lack of coverage by FDA officials has created serious inefficiencies for Ontario based trucking fleets exporting FDA impacted product to the U.S. - particularly across the Port of Buffalo.

In separate briefings to the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo and government officials in the Province of Ontario, OTA highlighted how this lack of weekend presence by FDA officials at the border on weekends creates problems for Ontario carriers and their customers. Here are some of the points raised by the association:

· Unpredictability of carriers to deliver loads during weekends as well as on Monday mornings to locations in the Northeastern United States. This unpredictability has a created a diminishing U.S. consumer/consignee confidence in Canadian products and the ability for Canadian carriers to supply product in a timely manner, creating potential for increased sourcing from U.S. supplier and trucking companies.

· Complete alteration of production and dispatch schedules for both Ontario exporters and the trucking companies moving product into the United States to meet the five day per week FDA schedule. Highly inefficient use of capital and labour.

· Trucks are not as productive as they could be with FDA weekend hours. With the new hours of service limitations every hour to the driver and carrier is more valuable than ever.

· Purchasing, leasing or renting of properties in the U.S. by Canadian shippers/trucking companies to stage equipment for pick up by U.S. carriers for weekend and Monday deliveries is adding to the cost and making Canadian product less competitive.

In response to OTA’s concerns, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Joseph Cordiano, and Minister of Trade and Agriculture and Food, Steve Peters jointly sent a letter to the their federal counterparts in Ottawa, the Ministers of International Trade and Agriculture, requesting that federal officials work with Washington in hopes of achieving an early resolution to these problems.

Canada’s Consul General in Buffalo, Roger Marsham, has also contacted FDA at the Port of Buffalo highlighting the inefficiencies created by a lack of presence of FDA officers on the weekend and requested that the matter be addressed.