National Trucking Week

If you want to put into perspective how important the trucking industry is to all of us, consider this industry saying — 'Other than a baby, everything is delivered by truck.' Clever, and quite true. Laura La Palme, who works in marketing and business development with the Manitoba Trucking Association, says the branding initiative, 'Canada Moves By Truck,' could iterally be born out of that saying. "Unfortunately, the general public often sees the large semi- truck as the annoyance in front of them, they don't see that if you look around in your immediate surroundings right now, that almost everything you see came off of a truck," La Palme says. Statistics show 66 per cent of Manitoba's $12.7 billion in exports to the United States are by truck and 81 per cent of the $19 billion imported from the U.S. come by truck. And in 2013, the Pembina/Emerson border crossing was the fifth busiest crossing by value. National Trucking Week aims to remind people to recognize the men and women who move our nation's freight. This is our opportunity to thank that driver who might have missed a soccer practice for their kid or worked during a holiday get-together so they could be on the road delivering the goods that we have every day. Another initiative the MTA is promoting to spread the word about all the good things the trucking industry represents is "I Heart Trucking" which began, La Palme says, with the increased use of an already existing hashtag — #Ilovetrucking (the heart is the emoji in the hashtag). La Palme handles social media for the MTA and began using the hashtag. National Trucking Week MTA staff showed up at the Headingley weigh scales with snacks and small tokens of appreciation for the drivers wearing 'I Heart Trucking' and "Canada Moves By Truck" T-shirts. "They were so popular, everyone was asking where they could buy one," she says. Since then, they've continued with the branding and there are now a number of promotional items ranging from clothing to water bottles to USB sticks, buttons and bumper stickers, all bearing the "I Heart Trucking" slogan. She says the merchandise is popular at career fairs where the MTA promotes the industry. "People seem to really like it and it just helps us promote the trucking industry in a fun way." It's a conversation starter, La Palme says, to spread the word that the trucking industry has come a long way and that preconceived notions from years gone by are just that – long gone. "Although it's better than it was, there is still a misconception about our industry, portraying it as this diesel belching, smoky truck running illegally down the highway," La Palme says. "That's simply not the case. Today there are very strict hours of service and safety regulations as well as emissions standards that our industry must adhere to. La Palme says the industry is even moving away from the term "trucker." "I don't refer to drivers as 'truckers,'" La Palme says. "They're professional drivers, and they work in a viable industry that offers many career opportunities and has made great strides toward becoming more environmentally friendly. Almost 30,000 people are directly employed by the trucking industry in Manitoba, which pays about $1.4 billion in wages annually. If you "heart" trucking, you're in luck — a Conference Board of Canada study says another 25,000 to 30,000 professional drivers will be needed in Canada by 2020. ❙ by donna maxwell for The free preSS maniToba Trucking aSSociaTion STaff. mTa phoToS 04 - NATIONAL TRUCKING WEEK Trucking facT: 72% of Canada's imports (by value) from the United States are transported by truck. 43% of Canada's exports (by value) to the United States are transported by truck. (Strategis)

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