Trucking: the economy’s circulatory system

If you’ve got it, a truck brought it.

The trucking industry is involved in all aspects of Canada’s consumer economy - transporting food, clothes, furniture, appliances and pretty much everything else we buy.

Count the number of freight-hauling rigs moving across Canada at any given moment, and you’ll get an accurate indication of how the overall economy is faring.

Needless to say truck traffic is down sharply over the last year, reflecting the equally sharp decline in Canadian manufacturing and resource industries. Similarly the dramatic drop in Canada’s trade with the USA is mirrored in a 26% decrease in truck freight at the busiest border crossings over the last 12 months.

While the sector serves as a kind of barometer of the bigger economic picture, truckers themselves are well placed to gauge the micro-effects of the crisis outside major centres.

Over 300 Canadian communities are dependent on a single industry or resource, with about 45% of Quebec’s regional municipalities falling into this category. As they haul their loads into the Quebec heartland, Guilbault’s drivers are witnessing the local effects of a global crisis, as powerful forces play out in the day-to-day lives of small towns and communities.

Facts & figures

•    In 2006 over 360,000 Canadians worked in the trucking sector, including over 220,000 drivers.
•    Between August 2008 and August 2009, over 40,000 Canadian jobs were lost in transportation and warehousing.
•    54% of Canada's trade with the USA moved by truck in 2008.
•    About 80% of Ontario's trade with the USA moves by truck.


Sources:  
Today’s Trucking; Journal de Québec; Transport Canada; Canada Trucking Alliance; Statistics Canada; Transport Canada; Niagara Falls Review