SURREY - Truckers barred from Metro Vancouver ports are celebrating a small victory with news a federal court judge will hear their legal challenge.
In what is believed to be unprecedented for the trucking industry, 26 companies representing over 500 experienced container truckers will receive a judicial review of Port Metro Vancouver's decision to overhaul the Transport License System (TLS).
Up to 80 companies, most of them operating in Surrey, were barred from the TLS system on Feb. 1 due to an ongoing overhaul of the trucking industry. An estimated $60 million of trucking equipment is now sitting idle and the drivers left scrambling to make ends meet.
"It's unbelievable," said Michelle Mann, a dispatcher for Surrey's Safe Way Trucking. "My company has some of the most experienced drivers with extremely strong safety records and some of the newest trucks on the road, and we were turned down for a license despite our company having over 20 years of experience at the Port."
Gurpreet Badh, a Surrey lawyer representing two of the 26 companies, will be in federal court in Vancouver on Wednesday and Thursday (Feb. 25 and 26) to make interim motions providing relief to the trucking companies.
Badh said lawyers will focus on two core arguments; first, that the companies be allowed to have their licenses extended during the judicial review process, and second, to expedite that process to minimize the financial pain to those companies.
"They're struggling," said Badh of the companies. "I think they can't survive for too long if a decision is not made."