Transport committee  Thank you. Good morning, Madam Chair, and thanks for the opportunity to appear before the standing committee on Bill C-49, the transportation modernization act. My name is Karen Kancens. I'm here with my colleague Sonia Simard on behalf of the Shipping Federation of Canada, whi

Transport committee  To switch tracks just a bit, from our perspective, we've been working on empty container repositioning for the last 10 years. We've made slow and steady progress. We're now on the verge, where we have an amendment that would allow foreign-flag ships to reposition their empty cont

Transport committee  Could you repeat your question?

Transport committee  Theoretically, because the activity right now is prohibited to foreign-flag ships under the Coasting Trade Act, a foreign-flag ship could apply for a waiver to carry out the activity, which has happened in the past, so then you will get a domestic ship that will oppose the waiver

Transport committee  No. We're only talking about the repositioning of their own containers, ones that they own or lease, on a non-revenue basis, so it is purely for logistical purposes.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  Just as a point of clarification, you mentioned “European”. I want to be sure that we take this out of the CETA context.

Transport committee  This is about empty-container repositioning on a Canada-wide basis. It's not part of the CETA trade agreement. In the context we're looking at this, with Bill C-49, I would caution perhaps that when we talk about the costs of repositioning empty containers, the costs are not on

Transport committee  You know, a lot of things go into the exporter's final transportation costs, so it's often difficult to isolate what the specific cost elements are. But yes, there is no question that if your carrier is paying additional costs to reposition those empties, especially if they're no

Transport committee  I don't know that I'm going to go that far. Ultimately, yes, but I look at it this way. Right now we see the greatest lack of empty containers in Halifax. On the east coast of Canada, they particularly need refrigerated containers to load agri-food and seafood. If that exporter d

Transport committee  Again, to be clear, for the change we are asking for, whether it's accomplished legislatively or whether it's accomplished through additional guidance from Transport Canada, we have the amendment in clause 70. That will allow the repositioning of empty containers by foreign-flag

Transport committee  Let me make it clear that foreign-flag ships are the ships that carry Canada's international trade. They carry virtually all of our overseas trade and half of our transborder trade. Thousands of these ships trade between Canadian ports and ports overseas. They're nothing new. The

Transport committee  All of the regulations are developed on a global basis by the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization. They're then implemented domestically through domestic legislation. Here in Canada they're enforced by Transport Canada and other regulator

Transport committee  Because it's foreign-flag shipping, foreign-flag ships are subject to regulations that are developed internationally, so then they are applied in Canada. Canada enforces them. Sonia, maybe I'm going to leave that one to you, because I don't think I'm doing a good job on this.

Transport committee  We hear that argument every time there's any discussion about opening up the Coasting Trade Act. The Coasting Trade Act has historically played an important role in protecting and promoting Canadian marine industries. We have no interest in opening it up for the sake of opening i