Daman Grewal, Senior Operations Manager of Centurion Trucking, a trucking company based in British Columbia, Canada, stated that he saw over 500 posts from shippers looking to cross Eastern Canada online on Monday, compared to the usual 20 to 30.

Daman Grewal said, "Last week was when the panic started to spread. Similar to the pandemic, you can see the scarcity in the supply chain." He pointed out that a few days ago, a freight trip that used to cost 7,000 Canadian dollars (about 5,139 US dollars) has now increased to 9,000 Canadian dollars. He also mentioned that the company can increase its capacity by 10% to 20%, mainly by reducing the drivers' rest time.

However, officials in the trucking industry stated that although the sluggish economic performance left room for increasing capacity, it is not enough to make up for the shortfall caused by the suspension of freight railroads. Robert Harper, President of the Alberta Motor Transport Association, said that since February, some rail shippers have been trying to book additional trucking capacity before the suspension of freight railroads. He said, "The trucking industry can help redistribute assets in the short term, but in the long run, it cannot replace long-haul freight railroads because in some cases, the industry neither has the equipment nor the capability."

It is reported that due to the failure to reach an agreement with the Canadian truck driver union in terms of wages and working hours, the two major rail companies in Canada, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway (CPKC), are facing the risk of simultaneous strike for the first time. It is expected that this will cause billions of dollars in economic losses. If no agreement is reached between labor and management, nearly 10,000 employees under CN and CPKC will go on strike starting early Thursday (August 22).

Canada heavily relies on railways to transport bulk commodities such as grains, beans, automobiles, potash, and coal. The Vancouver Board of Trade revealed that the daily value of goods transported by Canadian railways amounts to 1 billion US dollars. CN and CPKC dominate the Canadian railway market, with their capacity accounting for about three-quarters of the total capacity of the country's railway sector. Currently, CN and CPKC have gradually stopped transporting certain dangerous goods and refrigerated products.

Jeff Windau, an industrial analyst at Edward Jones, predicts that the strike will only last for a few days, but if it lasts longer, it could cause severe disruptions in the supply chain. He said, "If a situation persists for a longer period of time, considering the amount of goods handled every day, I believe there will be some significant potential issues, because overall, railroads touch almost every economic sector."

Analyst Jeff Windau added that the trucking transportation industry currently has a lot of excess capacity, which may be able to partially offset the volume of railroad transportation, but "you can't completely replace all of these with truck transportation." It is reported that the capacity of a freight train can be replaced by 300 trucks. Once freight railroads stop running, roads can relieve some logistics pressure, but the cost of road transportation is higher than that of railroads, so it is not realistic to completely replace them.

The potential shutdown of freight railroads in Canada also affects North American cross-border trade. U.S. freight forwarder C.H. Robinson expects that 85% of U.S.-Canada cross-border trucking is handled by Canadian trucking companies. "Any event that leads to a sudden surge in trucking demand and a sudden tightening of capacity will significantly increase costs in the spot market," he added. He also pointed out that Canadian trucking costs doubled overnight, which will not only lead to increased costs but also to longer delivery times.