Facing weeks of waiting at Vancouver’s Annacis Auto Terminal, Hyundai Auto Canada, for one, has begun diverting vessels to ports in the United States, where vehicles are offloaded, placed on railcars and shipped across the border into Canada.
David Adams, president of the Global Automakers of Canada, said half a dozen of the overseas automakers the organization represents have flagged the same issue.“In some cases [they] don’t even have a date where they’re going to be allowed to land. So, they end up diverting those shipments down to the U.S., and it creates a whole other logistical nightmare in terms of getting the vehicles from the port in the U.S. to where they need to be here in Canada.
While customers have become accustomed to delays since COVID-19, the Port of Vancouver is now the biggest obstacle for Canadian dealers looking to boost vehicle inventories, said Huw Williams, public affairs director at the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. “All OEMs are trying to restock their dealers at the same time, within a very short time frame of a few months, so we are experiencing increased vessel calls with very large volumes per call,” he wrote in an email.
Andrew Wynn-Williams, divisional vice-president for British Columbia with industry group Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said issues at the port were worsened because of the pandemic and B.C.’s 2021 floods. But the significantly higher capacity at the island terminal following the expansion is dependent on railcar supply, Emerson warned, meaning if the shortage of railcars isn’t solved the site won’t reach its nameplate throughput.“We can use support from the OEM’s to better manage vessels flows into Canada by providing a balanced volume throughout the year versus shipping extreme volumes over five to six months.