Grocers want feds to intervene in ferry rate hikes

CORNER BROOK — The Retail Council of Canada says to protect the affordability of food for citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador the federal government must prevent Marine Atlantic from imposing unreasonable shipping rate increases.

Marine Atlantic ferries make the crossing from North Sydney, N.S. to Port aux Basques on the Newfoundland side of the Cabot Strait twice daily. To ensure their merchandise gets on the ship, grocers have to pay a premium of $400 to $500 per trailer.

In the last few years, said the council in a press release issued Wednesday, the fuel surcharge has increased from 13.8 per cent to 21 per cent of the fare.

“Marine Atlantic recently announced shipping rate increases that will cost grocers anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000 more each year to ship produce and other fresh food from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador,” said David Wilkes, the council’s senior vice-president for grocery. “The federal government must act to prevent these increases, as Marine Atlantic is the only game in town in terms of quickly shipping any food requiring refrigeration, and inevitably these excessive shipping fees will be reflected in higher food prices.”

 The main concern for grocers is the drop-trailer fee which Marine Atlantic charges to load and unload the truck trailers at the dock. The drop-trailer management fee is currently $210 and will rise to $260 each way on April 1.

 Marine Atlantic has full authority to set its own fees.

“There is no reasonable justification for this increase — the federal government must intervene,” said Wilkes. “Marine Atlantic has stated they have always operated at a loss but the federal government is now demanding that the corporation find additional savings and efficiencies.

“Increasing drop-trailer fees is simply a strategy for Marine Atlantic to increase its revenue on the backs of grocers and the backs of grocery shoppers in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

 The only other shipper who provides service to Newfoundland and Labrador is Oceanex which ships out of Halifax twice a  week. Oceanex currently does not have adequate refrigeration capabilities to get produce from Halifax, said Wilkes, so grocers cannot use Oceanex to ship fresh food.

 “Marine Atlantic is effectively a monopoly,” he said, adding the government must protect the interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador by ending these “unnecessary and unjustifiable increases” by Marine Atlantic.

 “When the cost of doing business rises at an unreasonable rate, this prohibitive effect eventually trickles down to consumers, which is not what grocers want,” said Wilkes. “They want to provide consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador with fresh food that is affordable.”