ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The National Voice of the Shipper
- Played a major role in advocating for the introduction of long combination vehicles (LCV) in Ontario.
- Commenced an advocacy campaign related to LCV’s and the twinning of Quebec Highway 185 from Rivere du Loup and the New Brunswick border.
- FMA was elected the first chair of the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), remains a member of the Board of Directors reinforcing our global reach on ocean shipping and international air cargo.
- Actively involved in lobbying for the new Windsor-Detroit bridge.
- Actively representing FMA members at Port Metro Vancouver regarding the drayage trucker issue.
- From a petition developed by an FMA member and with support by FMA, the Supreme Court of Canada made a unanimous decision to dismiss a CN appeal and confirmed the 2010 Canadian government decision that clears a major hurdle for shippers who have complaints about the growing incidental and supplementary charges that railways arbitrarily impose on their customers.
- Represents global shippers before Canadian and U.S. agricultural authorities to promote voluntary and flexible best practice guides, rather than formal regulations, to minimize the unintentional import of invasive species in or on ocean shipping containers.
- Through the GSF, participating in the dialogue with the International Maritime Association (IMO) on new safe container loading practices.
- Maintained contact with Transport Canada truck safety officials as new electronic logging device (ELD) requirements were developed and implementation scheduled.
- Successfully lobbied for provisions in Bill C-49 in 2016-2017 that improved shipper rights related to rail service.
- Represented shipper concerns before Canadian Transportation Agency in 2019 in their first use of a new investigative power, brought in by Bill C-49, looking at rail service failures in the Vancouver area.
- Following from CN Appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal of the Agency 2019 decision, FMA is participating in the Appeal court process to ensure shipper views are brought to the court.
- Closely monitors and informs shippers of expiring labour agreements that could lead to major supply chain disruptions if work stoppage results.