Alaska trucking companies say their employees are quitting over Canada’s COVID vaccine mandate

[Mike]

Dick Rankins, the owner of Alaska-based Sleipner Transport, said the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Americans going through Canada has already had a big impact on his business.

Since Jan. 15, when it went into effect, he estimates he’s lost 80% of his drivers. This past weekend, he said, he couldn’t find a driver to pick up a load from the Lower 48 to haul up to Alaska.

“That’s the first load I’ve missed in 22 years,” he said.

Alaska trucking companies say their employees are quitting over Canada’s COVID vaccine mandate

The impact to consumers is still unclear, but some companies say they’ve lost the majority of their truck drivers since Jan. 15, when Canada's vaccine requirement went into effect.

www.alaskapublic.org

Those are food loads that are not making it up to Alaska. In this case, it's the Canadian mandate that is preventing a load going from the United States to the United States.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Sorry for Alaska and that carrier, but...good.

 

[Rigjockey]

Dick Rankins, the owner of Alaska-based Sleipner Transport, said the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Americans going through Canada has already had a big impact on his business.

Since Jan. 15, when it went into effect, he estimates he’s lost 80% of his drivers. This past weekend, he said, he couldn’t find a driver to pick up a load from the Lower 48 to haul up to Alaska.

“That’s the first load I’ve missed in 22 years,” he said.

Alaska trucking companies say their employees are quitting over Canada’s COVID vaccine mandate

The impact to consumers is still unclear, but some companies say they’ve lost the majority of their truck drivers since Jan. 15, when Canada's vaccine requirement went into effect.

www.alaskapublic.org

Those are food loads that are not making it up to Alaska. In this case, it's the Canadian mandate that is preventing a load going from the United States to the United States.

What does Alaska have to ship that the lower 48 don't have?

 

[Mike]

What does Alaska have to ship that the lower 48 don't have?

It's the opposite, they are failing to cover loads of produce from the lower 48 up to Alaska.

 

[Rigjockey]

Sorry for Alaska and that carrier, but...good.

Good cuz truckers are quitting their jobs or good like Alaskans are not getting the supplies they need?

 

[389 Hood]

Speaking of Alaska, has anyone heard anything of @Fageol recently? He said he was pushing 80 or is already there. I was just wondering if he is still with us.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Good cuz truckers are quitting their jobs or good like Alaskans are not getting the supplies they need?

Good because taking a stand.

 

[Fageol]

Speaking of Alaska, has anyone heard anything of @Fageol recently? He said he was pushing 80 or is already there. I was just wondering if he is still with us.

Still around. Have been doing junk around here. Still stay in touch with some of the guys. I see my friend Lolly Symbol is driving for some lash-up out of Wisconsin until spring when she returns here to haul dirt. She gets a kick at how much is shut down in the north Midwest because of a little snow. My buddy DJ runs for Minn-Alaska (part of Corcoran out of Billings). He can't run back through Canada because Canada wants him to have vaccinations and a negative test. So he's stuck here at a buddy's house until he gets vaxxed and a negative test.

Just getting over 3 weeks of covid. No fever but it made me weak as hell. Hope to get a negative test tomorrow. Gotta get that negative test so my buddy Cean and I can celebrate her settlement with her ex. She just returned from a photoshoot in Hawai'i. For a gal pushing 60, what a body! Soon I'll have to help out a couple of friends with taxes (they have a lot of trusts) and I'm expecting an audit after selling two pieces of property, each at a loss. Please don't pass on Cean's pic as one of the regulars from Canukistan on this forum thinks she's a tad artificial. Since I know her Mom, I'm pretty sure she hasn't been "altered."

Got a new physical in November so even at 80, I'm good to drive if I want to (not even an eyeglass restriction). Sourdough is looking for doubles drivers to loop Anchorage and Fairbanks (720 miles total per night). Been there; done that. I like that Sourdough ad (or FB post) as it shows one of their older horses pulling joints (those Petes had 6NZs at 500 or 550 hp so they pulled pretty good. The new iron, Petes and KWs, have 580 Cummins motors; they all (old and new) have 18 speeds and lockers). As you can imagine, sometimes that loop isn't all that fun but there's a good variety of scenery and terrain; it's nicer yet when there are no moose even near the road. And once one is out of one's yard, company names mean little; the guys and gals all help one another.

Anyway, I'm still above the daisies. And life is good. The mother of my neighbor to the north made me some chicken soup to aid my recovery. She's of Japanese heritage. I didn't have the heart to tell her that chicken soup is also known as Jewish penicillin. Both she and her son are darn good cooks. Her son is a math teacher and the varsity football coach at a nearby high school. Even a stud can be a good cook.

My next stop might be Costa Rica. I have a pilot friend who moved there and just comes up here to fly for a week for Lynden Air Cargo (same lash-up as those Milky Way trucks extending from the I-5 corridor). I've never been there, so it should be interesting. But I have a couple projects in front of that trip. The first is riding through the Redwoods with a retired pathologist friend. I have a half interest in a Ducati Isle of Man replica Monster in Canby Oregon. I think it might work for a long ride. I don't want to ship my 77 KZ 1000 there but I might have to.



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[389 Hood]

Good to know you're still takin' names and kickin' ass. It has to be those sub 0 temps that keep you preserved.
Plus, you don't sit down, you're always on the move.

 

[Fageol]

Good to know you're still takin' names and kickin' ass. It has to be those sub 0 temps that keep you preserved.
Plus, you don't sit down, you're always on the move.

Forgot to post a pic of Lolly. She's a good gal and a political conservative like Cean (secretary of the Libertarian Party here) in the prior post. And, as mentioned, she drives for some lash-up out of Wisconsin. From what she's posted, it looks like she runs boxes and flats. If you run across her, please say hello for me. She showed some evidence that she got some bum advice on gloves for hanging jewelry. I'm pretty sure that she was hauling propane to the Pogo mine out of Fairbanks. I don't know the gals who she's with but she's a fairly social being. She has a lot of relatives in Wisconsin -- and I thought that all the Poles were in Chicago. She raised to boys to manhood by herself, so she's a go-getter.

 

[AK7]

Do you know who she's driving for out of Wisconsin?

 

[Fageol]

Do you know who she's driving for out of Wisconsin?

I'll ask and get back to you.