Service Update
Information from the railways, the trucking industry, and the ports indicates that networks remain fluid, and transit consistency, equipment supply are generally meeting the demand.
To be as useful as possible, these updates need to be brief and focus on new information. We check a number of information sources on each mode each day. We won’t repeat the first paragraph above every day. If there is no new information, it means that service and networks are meeting the demand.
Marine Update
The Montreal-Lake Ontario section of the St. Lawrence Seaway opened today. Information on the opening from the Seaway authority can be found at
https://greatlakes-seaway.com/en/news/ship-transits-seaways-st-lambert-lock/
The UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued a preliminary list of recommendations to governments and relevant authorities to assist in facilitating global trade during the pandemic. The IMO notice can be found at
https://files.constantcontact.com/5c64296b501/ecf39faa-c412-4f24-8aba-0b7355880f54.pdf
As mentioned yesterday, there is concern regarding the shortage of containers in some locations and congestion in other areas with the major disruptions in trade. An item from Splash provides more information on this situation at
https://splash247.com/european-and-american-ports-ready-for-box-congestion/
Trucking
Further to the FMA items on the treatment of truck drivers, the Canadian Trucking Alliance acknowledged the support from FMA in their COVID-19 update yesterday at
http://cantruck.ca/covid-19-daily-bulletins-march-31/
Also, Freightwaves reports that there has been a significant decline in cross-border trucking in recent days. The article can be found at
https://freightwaves.com/news/breaking-us-canada-trucker-border-crossings-plunge
Air Cargo
Air Cargo Week (ACW) is reporting that Transport Canada has authorized Boeing 737 conversions allowing main deck cargo. The ACW article can be found at the red bar below.
Updates Now on the Website
All the COVID-19 updates that FMA has issued are now uploaded to the website and there is a link to them on the home page at www.fma-agf.ca .
Our focus in the FMA updates continues to be on supply-chain impacts of COVID-19. If members have questions where FMA may be able to help, please send an email with your request, and we are pleased that a number of members have reached out to us.
Information from members will be useful in our continuing outreach to members and in our communications with the government and with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. As always, all individual company information will be kept confidential.
