Truckers still see challenges ahead for 2010

Forest products trucking companies are treading water in the face of a variety of challenges ahead of them for 2010. Mill shutdowns both temporary and permanent have been a constant trial for at least the past year and show little sign of abating. On top of that 2010 brings new engine emissions standards for truck engines. The standards require all new trucks to be equipped with engine technology about which the only certain thing is an increased price. Truckers say it couldn’t come at a worse time.

Al Kistemaker of Hornepayne, Ontario thinks its going to be a tough winter in his area depending on whether Terrace Bay and other area mills start production again.

"A lot of mills are shutting down. Hopefully things will improve but I don’t see it happening until April," Kistemaker said. "In our particular case we have a lot of jackpine and there is hardly any market for it now. We used to take that to Marathon and Terrace Bay so, its going to be a rough go."

Kistemaker tries to stay positive but sees and hears a lot of things that he can’t ignore.

"Personally, I can’t see the paper markets ever coming back to what they used to be. I’ve noticed that even newspapers are getting smaller and smaller," Kistemaker said. "You lose one or two pages of a newspaper that adds up to a lot of tonnage. I think the newsprint market will probably be 40% of what it was five years ago, but that’s only me, I’m not an expert on it."

"I can see a good future for the north but that’s four or five years away and might have more to do with the mining," Kistemaker said. "Maybe I am optimistic but I think the north will boom again. There will be forestry but I would be surprised if it was more than 50% of what it was a few years ago."

Like many in the field Kistemaker is skeptical if not downright opposed to the 2010 low emissions engines."

"We have one truck with the new engine on it. It’s harder on fuel and it’s been breaking down. Right now its okay but we’ve had lots of problems with it," Kistemaker said. "We will be getting more trucks with it eventually but we aren’t planning on any new equipment because we haven’t got the work for them. We’re going to hang on to what we’ve got for as long as possible."

He is however in favour of that other government legislation affecting truckers; speed limiters.

"I am all for speed limiters. It definitely saves on fuel and it’s easier on everything. I know a lot of individuals who are against it. I am 100% for the 105 speed limit on trucks, we have limiters on all our trucks and have had them since before the legislation came out and we’ve been running them that way for the last few years," Kistemaker said.

The company’s short term goal is to carry on until spring when the hope is that business will pick up.

"Right now we’ll probably have one or two trucks going for the winter but the mills aren’t opening until March," Kistemaker. "So it’s going to be pretty dead, but hopefully by the end of March things will come back and I’ll have all my employees working again."

In Haileybury Doug Niemi has downsized in response to the downturn, a tactic which seems to have paid off for him so far.

"I’ve been in business for 27 years as a logging contractor hauling logs. We used to have 25 highway trucks hauling waferboard and general freight to Canada and the US," Niemi said. "I’m down to six log trucks now. That’s due to the industry slowing down and the price of fuel. We chose to downsize rather than fight it."

"Business is going well right now, everybody is busy. The price of fuel is still a little high but we can live with it. Its not bad, nothing to jump up and click your heals over but it is definitely a lot better than a few months ago," Niemi said. "We work for Grant Forest Products and Domtar. We work more for Grant right now, I’ve been a contractor with them forever. I was one of their (Grant’s) main contractors for 10 or 12 years. Now I just work for the highest bidder which right now happens to be them."

Niemi shares other trucker’s apprehension concerning the new engines which meet 2010 emissions standards. He recently bought one of the last 2010 trucks to be produced without the new low emission engine.

"I have quite a few of the trucks from the last emissions standards. We all just got used to the last set of standards and they go and change it again," Niemi said. "They say its better on fuel but I don’t believe it is. It adds $10,000 to price, makes it harder on fuel and lazier there is no good side for us that we can see. On the other hand we thought that the last time too."

Speed limiters are of little concern to Niemi, he believes that it was one of the best things that the government has implemented.

"People say it slows the trucks down if they all go the same speed, but the bottom line is if one leaves five minutes after another it’ll never catch up. Before, if one left three minutes after he’d be catching the first one ten minutes down the road," Niemi said. "I don’t believe that the trucks get bunched up because of it. Trucks don’t need to go 120 km an hour. When you drive faster you get more fatigued. You are more relaxed and know what’s going on at the lower speed. If you set your cruise at 90km/h and drive that for 3 hours then bring it up to 110 that seems fast. If you drive 110 it takes 120 to feel fast."

For Doug Pelton of Paris Ontario the year started out strong but business has begun to ebb slightly in the past couple of weeks.

"December and through Christmas was decent and January was pretty strong but it started to die out last week. With the way the economy is we were down 30% in sales last year," Pelton said. "It looks like things are going to get better and then it slows down again. You read the newspapers and the government says that things are moving again but we’re not moving well that’s for sure. We’ve lost so many manufacturing jobs in southern Ontario, which directly affects our business."

"The new emissions standards are just awful. It’s the last thing we needed at this point. There are more problems, Caterpillar is getting out of the market because of it and the engines are having more problems. It’s a nightmare," Pelton said.

Pelton says his usual habit of selling off his older trucks in exchange for new ones will have to change so he can keep pre-2010 vehicles as long as possible.

"I have a pretty good fleet of trucks and guys like to buy my tractors because we look after them. I sold a couple off because we had them parked and have guys wanting them but if I sold any more I would have to replace them," Pelton said. "I don’t want to replace them right now with new trucks because you don’t know what you are getting; you could have more problems than you have now. That’s part of the problem; companies don’t want to invest in new equipment because you don’t know what you will get." ◊