The Canadian government’s mandate that Canadian truck drivers must be vaccinated from COVID-19 is adding further complication to an already troubled supply chain.
Up to 20 percent of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border drivers could be forced off the roads as a result of the mandate, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance.
To protest the mandate, Canadian truckers began a march from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Ottawa, Ontario, on 23 January, saying the rules will lead to driver shortages and contribute to inflation, according to Reuters.
Bloomberg reported some produce shelves in the U.S. Southeast were bare and the cost of hauling produce has gone up 25 percent, according to Bloomberg.
A similar rule in the U.S. requiring truck drivers to be vaccinated went into effect this past weekend, per Bloomberg. The mandate is expected to remove around 16,000 drivers from the road.
The twin mandates will impact commercial drivers crossing the U.S.-Canadian border, as only about half of U.S. truckers are vaccinated, according to the American Trucking Association estimates. The U.S. exported USD 21 billion (EUR 18.5 billion) in food to Canada in 2020, with prepared foods leading the exports.
Due to the COVID-19 omicron variant and other pressures, in-stock levels of food products at U.S. retailers dropped to 86 percent for the week ending 16 January, compared to pre-pandemic levels of more than 90 percent, The Wall Street Journal found.
And ocean shipping rates are expected to stay elevated well into 2022, per Bloomberg. The spot rate for a 40-foot container traveling to the U.S. from Asia was more than USD 20,000 (EUR 18,000) last year, up from less than USD 2,000 (EUR 1,766) a few years ago.
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