Shipping Federation Works to Free Containers

(Montreal Gazette – Mike King)

A national group representing owners, operators, charterers and agents of vessels engaged in Canada’s overseas commerce is attempting to break a backlog of shipments being held excessively long at ports on both coasts because of new customs testing rules for cargo containers.

“We’re working with the Canada Border Services Agency to get rid of the backed-up shipments,” James Moram, director of marine administration at the Shipping Federation of Canada, said yesterday from Halifax before returning to Montreal headquarters.

“Things are being done to try to clear up the Port of Halifax,” where he said there is a 77-container backlog with an average 17-day delay before they are cleared for delivery to their final destinations – more than three times the normal turnaround period.

“It’s costing importers an arm and a leg as well as lots of frustration,” Moram said.

One of the 40-foot containers carrying a wide variety of goods for eight Montreal customers, including Bombardier Inc., and five clients in Toronto, including Ford Canada, has been sitting there since June 14. Gillespie-Munro Inc., the Montreal-based international freight-forwarding firm responsible for the shipment, has been fielding angry calls from the increasingly impatient importers.

“Now everybody is yelling at us because they all think we’re lying to them,” said Chris Gillespie, president and CEO of the family company. “My staff is getting pummeled every day from the importers. “It has gone beyond all common sense,” Gillespie added. “We’re being brutalized.”

The problem began last month when the border services agency ordered all marine containers randomly selected for inspection for contraband also be tested for formaldehyde – one of six common gases used for fumigation – as a means of protecting customs employees from any possible exposure to hazardous chemicals.

But the levels of formaldehyde deemed safe by Customs on instructions of Health Canada – 0.15 parts per million, less than is found in hardwood floors, for example – have meant virtually every container has tested positive and had to be held for ventilation.

Although ventilation should not take more than a day, border services isn’t giving any explanation why the containers are being kept longer.

While the CBSA recognizes the testing and ventilation of containers is causing delays with the movement of containers and is subsequently taking action, Moram’s shipping federation, the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association and the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters, argue the testing for formaldehyde has caused and continues to cause serious harm to the entire importing and exporting community.

They say Canadian importers are facing cancelled orders, back-to-school goods aren’t reaching the retail shelves on time, late project and construction materials are creating fines and delays while administration and tracking expenses are skyrocketing.

There have also been big backlogs at the Port of Vancouver, but Patrice Pelletier, Port of Montreal president and chief executive officer, said yesterday there are no such delays here.