Ontario-U.S. Truck Trips Drop
The number of cross-border truck trips between the Canadian province of Ontario and the United States fell for a third straight year in 2007 to the lowest point since 1998, the Ontario Trucking Association said Monday.
Citing Bridge and Tunnel Operator’s Association figures, last year there were 8,049,136 truck trips across the border, down from 8,267,931 trips in 2006, a decrease of 2.6%, OTA said.
Even in 2001, the year of 9/11, there were 72,000 more cross-border truck trips than in 2007, the group said.
OTA President David Bradley called the numbers “clear and unequivocal evidence of the extent to which Ontario’s export based economy has been battered by the combination of a high dollar, high fuel costs, the ever-increasing thickening of the border, and slackening US demand.”
“Trucking activity is a leading economic indicator, and these numbers should be a wake up call to governments at all levels that there is a very real need for them to act now to help Ontario’s economy cope with the challenges currently confronting it,” Bradley said.
He called on the Bank of Canada “to aggressively reduce interest rates in Canada in order to spur economic growth and to moderate the value of the dollar.”
