Rocky road ahead

Canadian Forest Industries, May 2005 by Jamieson, Scott

It's great that log haulers finally received some serious attention this past winter. It would also be wise to address similar issues in other regions before they, too, boil over. Then we can all get on with business.

With the right attitude, life can be one long learning experience. Take this winter's log hauling strikes in northeastern Ontario and central BC, events described in this issue's Log Haul column on page 26. If you're reading this in the Maritimes, northern Quebec or Alberta, you might think these events interesting, but irrelevant. You'd be wrong. Whether you're a log hauler, contractor or woodlands employee, there are important lessons. You can either learn them now, or have them taught to you next winter.

The main lesson is that if you push someone hard enough and long enough, they will shove back. Log haulers in northeastern Ontario had been pushed into a corner for years, and they finally pushed back this past winter, parking their rigs and blockading area mills until their woes were taken seriously. Owner/operators in Prince George, BC, did more or less the same thing (although with better timing in my view).

In the end, log haulers in both regions had excellent cases to argue and very real problems few could ignore. Yet they were ignored, or given lip service, for some time. Once the wood stopped flowing, mills in both regions miraculously found money that they had insisted for years they didn't have. Depending on whom you believe, log haulers in northeastern Ontario were rewarded for their political efforts with raises of between 5 and 10% (all factored), and those in north-central BC saw increases around 16% and recognition that their safety issues should be dealt with in a timely manner. No doubt they, and loggers and log haulers around them, learned what their counterparts in sawmills and pulp mills have long known: If you can shut the mill, people will listen to your concerns.

Not isolated problem

This is all good fun, and for once it looks like the little guy won. Certainly others will try this strategy, and why shouldn't they - it seemed to pay off where years of playing nice did not. Unless something changes over the next few months, my money is on similar actions in northwestern Ontario and/or the Maritimes next. Truth is often exposed in the most innocent comments - I was chatting with a Maritimes entrepreneur last fall who ran chip vans because he had to, but no log trucks. When asked why, he looked at me like I had asked why the sky is blue. "There's no money in log trucks," was his matter-of-fact answer, and one I had heard for at least two years in northeastern Ontario before the strike there. A guy with a rig can haul just about anything, so when there is a widespread shortage of truckers in all sectors, how long can forestry sustain a system like that?

Yes, there will be strikes, and haul rates will climb. As our trucking expert James Menzies notes, underneath this winter's hauling protests are a host of serious issues beyond our control that will increasingly put upward pressure on log haul costs, from fuel costs and driver shortages to more expensive engines and insurance. If you get paid to haul logs, this winter's events may have you thinking that as long as you can negotiate rate adjustments, you'll do all right. There is some truth to that - to a point.

Beyond that, we all start to hurt, although I admit that after this winter's about-face on rates by several forest companies, it's tough to decide where that point may be. Is it where the mill says it is today, or is it where the mill admits it is after truckers shut the haul for a month before break-up? It is a conundrum, and one of the industry's own making.

Still, eventually log hauling becomes prohibitively costly for an industry as remote and scattered as ours. Hauling already represents over 40% of delivered wood costs in Canada, and there is little margin for this to go higher. External forces will certainly try, so that if log hauling is really as lean as it can be, and if there really is only so much money to go around, we're in a whole lot of trouble.

Fortunately, there is room to improve overall efficiencies to everyone's benefit, assuming all parties have the will, trust and imagination required. Here are just a few ideas among many:

* Your tax dollars at work: Federally funded programs like NRC-Can's Smart Driver and others are designed to help industries like ours save fuel and money. In our sector, FERIC is partnering with NRC and is ready to help implement many fuel and log hauling cost-reduction programs, some with very little investment for almost immediate payback. Options include more effective truck/trailer spec'ing, low weight "Star Trucks," driver training and incentive programs, back-hauling and more. Cost reductions of 10% or more are very realistic, and CFI has in the past reported on gains of over 6% from driver training alone. Yet the programs require buy-in, investment and co-operation from truck owners and drivers - funny how it all comes back to goodwill.