REGINA - The Saskatchewan Trucking Association (STA) is reminding people of the importance of the trucking industry during National Trucking Week.
The annual recognition of the sector runs from Sept. 1-7. George Henderson, the director of operations and member services with the STA, said the agency is connected to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, which provides social media information, advertising and more to applaud the truck drivers who ship goods from Point A to B every day.
"Being a land-locked province, it's pretty tough to get anything on a ship and close to anything, anywhere," said Henderson. "There is lots of product that gets moved by train … it comes into places like the Global Transportation Hub on rail, and then it gets transferred to trucks, and then it gets moved around."
He estimates that 90-95 per cent of all items in Saskatchewan get moved on a truck at some point, even if it's just for a short distance from a railyard to a warehouse or distribution centre.
"Trucking moves a lot of natural resources, and … Saskatchewan has a lot of natural resources," said Henderson, noting that Saskatchewan mines many of the essential minerals.
The Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure is working hard to get transportation corridors built to move more forestry products from the north. Uranium is located in the north and it is shipped to different reactors around the world. And Henderson noted Saskatchewan's status as the "bread basket of the world", with the many crops grown here.
The STA is the voice of the trucking industry in Saskatchewan, Henderson said. Its biggest job is to lobby on behalf of the industry, so the association does some "heavy lifting" with the government when it comes to regulations, highway safety and more.
"We definitely want to have the trucking industry's voice in there when they're building or improving infrastructure. It's not just provincial, we also have connections through our CTA [Canadian Trucking Alliance] partnership in there as well."
There is still a driver shortage in Saskatchewan, he said, so the STA has been going to student job fairs to promote the industry to young people.
"We have a VR [virtual reality] machine that actually shows you a day in the life of a truck driver, so we'll go to places like Balgonie, which has a big student job fair every year in May … and there's 3,200 to 3,500 students going through there. For anybody that's interested in the trucking industry, we'll put the VR equipment on them, and we'll show them it," said Henderson.
The STA also has partnerships with Indigenous communities, especially in norther Saskatchewan, to create more interest in trucking.
"It definitely can be an entrepreneurial type of job as well," said Henderson. "There are certain interests to certain individuals out there, and that's something that we provide."
The STA has about 200 members, including larger organizations that hire a lot of owner-operators, so it represents a good percentage of people who work in the province, Henderson said.
The association is having a drivers' appreciation barbecue on Sept. 4, starting at 11 a.m. at the Regina weigh scales, located north of the Queen City on Highway 11.
"We've done this for quite a few years. The one for National Trucking Week is pretty well attended because we're closed to the legislative assembly and a lot of the MLAs will come out. We have head office for SGI … here in Regina, so they usually send a couple of people out. And we have the Highway Patrol themselves … and we appreciate them as well," said Henderson.
Between 200-250 drivers have typically been served at the barbecue.
The STA tries to do what they can to thank truckers every year. They also have a barbecue in the spring and another in the summers at different locations in the province.
Henderson believes the public is appreciative of the efforts of the trucking industry to get the goods to market. He added the STA, which has five staff members, needs to emphasize the importance of truckers to people in Saskatchewan.
"We ran into some supply chain issues back during the pandemic a few years ago, and it seemed like people came back and realized how important it was having trucks moving products back and forth," said Henderson.
Truckers are very passionate about ttheir industry, and they're proud of what they do, Henderson said.
