Air Canada Lockout/Strike to effect shipping to US and abroad?

[fergua3]

Many of the packages we ship outside of Canada go aboard Air Canada flights.  With the pending lockout/strike, transit times could be severly effected.   Strange i have heard very little about this from CP or Ebay.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@fergua3 wrote:

Many of the packages we ship outside of Canada go aboard Air Canada flights.  With the pending lockout/strike, transit times could be severly effected.   Strange i have heard very little about this from CP or Ebay.

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@fergua3 

Very likely could affect lots of freight. Because I am in Calgary my US tracked parcels go by way of Richmond. I often see stuff that I dropped off today in Richmond the next morning. The only way would be if it goes by air. If it goes by truck it will take longer. Either waiting for trucks to be full or problems on the highway. Normal driving time would be 14 to 18 hours. Traffic accident...Delays. It's gonna happen. Hopefully if it does come to strike it is resolved very quickly. 

As a side note eBay is VERY slow to react to Canadian issues when it comes to weather , nature and transit times. The times for all intensive purposes are best case scenario only with very little wiggle room if something does go off the rails and/or is not seen when someone checks scans.

-Lotz

PS. In hearing from a wpg who ships to USA regularly. Their parcels are in Toronto either overnight or 2 to 3 days. Depending on the time of year.

[ypdc_dennis]

You won't hear much until they actually do a complete shutdown.

September 18 at the earliest for that.

[reallynicestamps]

In addition to Air Canada, flights from Calgary to Vancouver are provided by WestJet, Flair, Air North and Porter.

Most of the flights seem to be WJ not AC.

[fergua3]

it's not the within Canada flights i'm concerned about.  It's the flight to the US and overseas.   

And AC management has said they are going to be scaling back and canceling flights 3 days prior to the Sept 18 strike deadline.

AC has offered pilots a 30% pay increase over the next 3 years.  Union wants a 45% pay increase over 3 years.  Both sides are far apart and not budging.

[fergua3]

Anyway, it's a moot point now.    I just read that AC and the union have struck a deal.

[reallynicestamps]

If shipment to the US from Calgary go first to Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver) then the Calgary to Vancouver flights are the flights to the USA.

More business for WestJet.

[recped]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

More business for WestJet.

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WestJet barely has any capacity for cargo, the only real reason for CP to use Air Canada is for the overseas service. Within Canada CargoJet dominates the air freight business, AC is a distant second.

If there was to be a AC strike CP would need to switch to ground transport or attempt to get some space with CargoJet. Going with all ground (Truck/Rail) would add some minor delays to major centres. Same goes for US mail, they can truck it across the border to the closest USPS ISC (Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New York, NY, and San Francisco, CA).

Xpresspost and Lettermail would be the most affected domestic service, Expedited mostly is a surface service so the delays there should be moderate. Mail going to more remote locations would have the most disruptions.

In any event if there had been a strike it would be short lived, the feds would be legislating a back to work order within days just as they did with the recent CN/CP rail strike.