Prince Rupert’s port is testing self-driving trucks, The Tyee has learned. But unions fear job losses and safety threats.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority, owned by the federal government but operating independently, plans to carry out trials with the autonomous vehicles this summer and hopes to make them part of its operations.
A port authority presentation obtained by The Tyee says the technology is needed to address driver shortages as the port — the third busiest in Canada — expands.
But port unions are raising concerns about the technology’s impact.
The port authority does not dispute the information in the leaked documents. Unions representing workers at the port confirmed the information in the presentation.
Christopher Monette, Teamsters Canada director of public affairs, says members are “annoyed and angered” the port authority is pursuing self-driving trucks instead of cheaper ways to address a possible driver shortage. The union represents about 30 truck drivers and six maintenance workers at the port.
And the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, says the plan raises safety concerns for about 700 workers it represents at the port.
The port authority plans to test autonomous trucks at its Fairview container terminal — operated by Dubai-based DP World — this June and July.
The move escalates a yearlong clash over self-driving trucks at the Prince Rupert port and underscores rising tensions over automation at all Canadian ports.
“We all were obviously opposed to this, but not because we’re opposed to modernization or greater efficiency,” Monette said. “It’s mismanagement disguised as innovation.”
Truck drivers haul cargo between ships, warehouses and grain terminals at the port. The transport is called “drayage” in port-speak.
The drivers are employed by Gat Leedm Logistics, a Prince Rupert-based transportation company owned by the Metlakatla Development Corp., the business arm of the Metlakatla First Nation. Gat Leedm did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the leaked presentation, two expansion projects — Canxport and the South Kaien Logistics Park, scheduled to be finished by 2026 and 2027, respectively — will dramatically increase cargo moving through the port.
Olivia Mowatt, a spokesperson for the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said in an email the port performs about 150 drayage moves a day now. That will increase to 1,100 moves per day by 2030, she said.
The leaked presentation says that with a pool of 65 drivers, the port could face a driver shortage as early as 2026.
“Our driver pool in Prince Rupert is limited and not equipped for this exponential increase in volume,” she said.
“That’s why we are studying options for how to augment the difference between our existing capacity and the needs of the volume that’s to come.”
The proposed solution? Self-driving trucks.
The port authority presentation says Ontario-based self-driving truck company NuPort Robotics provides “plug-and-play autonomous retrofits” for heavy-duty trucks.
According to the presentation, NuPort technology has already been deployed in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. and works with companies including Canadian Tire and Sobeys. The company’s self-driving trucks, the port documents say, have been deployed in severe weather conditions at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour, the presentation said.
But a news report last month said NuPort is still in the testing stage with a half-dozen trucks.
NuPort Robotics did not respond to requests for comment.
Mowatt said autonomous trucking is one of many options the port is exploring to support an increase in cargo.
The increase will bring “additional terminal jobs and economic prosperity for the economies supported by the port,” Mowatt said.
She said there are currently no plans to incorporate the self-driving trucks into port operations — just to test them.
‘We are dead set opposed’
The unions’ fight against the self-driving trucks began last year, when the port authority launched its first test.
The test — which the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s Mowatt described as “proof of concept” work — started in January 2024, according to the leaked presentation.
Over 10 tests during January and February, an autonomous tractor drove a total of 491 kilometres. It reached speeds of 70 kilometres per hour and successfully navigated a gravel portion of the Ridley Island access road, which leads to the grain terminal.
In April and May 2024, the port authority tested an autonomous truck in the Ray-Mont Logistics yard. The truck drove around the facility during workdays, completed cargo lifting operations and reached up to 70 kilometres per hour on a road outside the yard, with a trailer and container attached.
Both tests had safety drivers behind the wheel.
Monette said the port authority wanted to do another test last June, but Teamsters was opposed to the test “on principle.”
Members of the ILWU and Teamsters stopped the trucks at the gate to the port, he said.
“We told the powers that be — the trucking company and the port authority — that we are dead set opposed to this,” Monette said.
Monette said there are simpler, cheaper ways to handle increasing cargo volumes. He suggests hitching an extra trailer to the back of a tractor, so each truck carries two trailers.
The solution would double the amount of cargo each driver could carry, according to Monette.
Monette also challenges the claim that there aren’t enough drivers. According to Monette, there were 80 available drivers — more than double the port’s current roster — before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was doable in the past and it’s certainly doable today,” he said. “So it’s frustrating to see the port authority listen to the consulting class and the tech bros instead of truck drivers.”
Longshore workers have also fought for years to protect their jobs from automation. ILWU Canada president Rob Ashton said longshore workers are worried self-driving trucks aren’t safe to be around.
“Autonomous equipment is very unpredictable at best,” Ashton said. “Put that into a space where there’s humans working and it could create a disastrous event.”
The resistance to self-driving trucks is just the latest instalment in a long-fought push against port automation.
The Vancouver port strike that snarled Canadian supply chains for weeks in 2023 largely hinged on provisions to protect dockworkers’ jobs from automation.
“Our union has been trying to keep automation away from the docks as best we can for years now, because of the damage to the community that an automated terminal can have on a community like Prince Rupert,” Ashton said.
Ashton estimates if a single container terminal is automated — DP World Prince Rupert, he offered as an example — it could cost nearly half the union members’ jobs.
“Look at the community. Now, they have no lumber industry. They’ve got no fishing industry. That container terminal there is by far one of the largest employers in the city,” he said. “If you even lose just a quarter of those workers, imagine the effects that will have.”
‘We have no reason to doubt that it’s coming’
The ILWU’s Ashton said news of more self-driving testing came as a surprise.
The port authority presentation was leaked to The Tyee in early May. It wasn’t until last week that the port authority told the ILWU it intended to test the trucks in June.
The port authority would not disclose further details about the test. But according to the leaked presentation, a self-driving truck will be tested for two weeks over June and July.
Tests would consist of loading and unloading containers from a truck, interaction with port equipment and driving through the terminal gate.
A crew of three engineers and a professional driver will oversee testing, and a safety driver will always be in the autonomous truck’s driver’s seat.
The Teamsters’ Monette said he heard the tests were coming through “credible sources.” He added that because the drivers work for Gat Leedm, the union has an open line of communication with that employer and not the port authority.
“But we have heard about it, and we have no reason to doubt that it’s coming,” Monette said.
Justin Wiltshire, a labour economist at the University of Victoria, said the resistance to testing self-driving trucks at the ports is part of a broader push by workers against automation in all sectors.
“Unions and a lot of workers for centuries have been concerned about their jobs potentially being threatened by new technologies,” Wiltshire said. “For the broader economy, we want to have reliable, efficient port operations and in many ways automation does promise to offer that.”
Wiltshire added that despite resistance, it’s likely ports will continue to push to automation.
“Labourers need to rest. Labourers may not always show up when you want them to show up; they may make mistakes more often,” he said. “Automation can reliably replace workers who are doing these things and have fewer interruptions, fewer mistakes and potentially lower average costs overall.”
Monette is calling for the port authority to work with drivers to address growing cargo volumes.
“This is not about opposing modernization. This is not about opposing efficiency,” Monette said. “It’s about the authority not listening to workers, not taking their recommendations seriously and opting instead to go after the latest gadgets.”
