This story has been updated with quotes from the Teamsters union.
As the work week draws to a close, still more auto plants are being idled by parts shortages blamed on the trucker blockade of two key border links between the U.S. and Canada.
Honda is the latest automaker to be added to a list already including Ford, Stellantis and Toyota. But General Motors says its operations are now operating at normal rates after making cuts earlier in the week.
That appears to reflect a workaround the largest of the Detroit automakers came up with, redirecting its shipments across the Peace Bridge connecting Niagara Falls, Ontario with Buffalo, New York. But that strategy soon may falter, with organizers of the trucker blockade reportedly now looking to target that crossing as well.
How we got here
The crisis began more than two weeks ago when truckers opposed to mask and vaccine mandates rolled into the Canadian capital of Ottawa. They have since brought that city to a virtual halt. On Monday, a new group of protestors blocked access to the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario and Detroit. That link handles almost a quarter of total bilateral trade between the U.S. and Canada, White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki noted this week.
Initially, Canadian authorities tried to reroute trucks across the Blue Water Bridge 45 miles north of Detroit linking Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan. But protestors descended on that link, as well. Some shipments are getting through there, but the short trip has been extended by as much as five hours.
Together, the Ambassador and Blue Water Bridges normally handle more than $100 billion in shipments of automotive parts and fully assembled cars each year.
So, the blockades have hit the industry hard — and fast, due to the use of Just-in-Time manufacturing that means automakers and suppliers keep relatively little inventory on hand at their plants.
While the protestors do have supporters, organized truckers in the U.S. aren’t among them.
“The Teamsters Union denounces the ongoing Freedom Convoy protest at the Canadian border that continues to hurt workers and negatively impact our economy. The livelihood of working Americans and Canadians in the automotive, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors is threatened by this blockade,” Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. He was supported even more stridently by Teamsters Canada.
“The so-called “freedom convoy” and the despicable display of hate lead by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians does not reflect the values of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members, and in fact has served to delegitimize the real concerns of most truck drivers today,” the Canadian union said in a lengthy statement.
Where we’re at now
“It is a mess,” Carla Bailo, the CEO of the Center for Automotive Research, or CAR, told TheDetroitBureau.com on Thursday morning. “What we’re seeing is that the plants in Canada are really getting strangled first. Then the plants in the U.S. relying on engines and transmissions will be hurt next.”
Indeed, the impact has already spread to both sides of the border.
- Honda is the latest to curb production, in this case suspending one shift at its assembly plant in Alliston, Ontario;
- Toyota has curbed production at three Ontario plants building its most popular models, the RAV4 and Lexus RX. It added a factory in Kentucky on Wednesday and now says others in West Virginia and Alabama “have been impacted”;
- Stellantis reopened a minivan plant in Windsor briefly closed early in the week but now advised that “a number of U.S. and Canadian plants have cut short multiple shifts.”
Ford has reduced production at its Canadian operations, but now the problem is affecting the U.S. side as well.
“This interruption on the Detroit/Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border that are already two years into parts shortages resulting from the global semiconductor issue, COVID and more,” the company said in a statement to TheDetroitBureau.com.
“We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada. Today our plants in Oakville and Windsor are running at reduced capacity. Ohio Assembly Plant is down as a result of a part shortage associated with this situation.”
What’s next
General Motors has come reasonably close to normal operations, it reported Friday morning. That may be due to the automaker making an end run around the Ambassador and Peace Bridge blockades. TheDetroitBureau.com on Thursday learned that the carmaker has been directing its parts shipments through Niagara Falls to cross into the U.S. on the Peace Bridge. The detour can add five hours or more to travel times, but that is in line with the delays reported for the trucks that have been able to get into Michigan directly.
The question is whether the protestors will have the muscle to blockade that third crossing. Buffalo TV station WGRZ reported Friday morning that local authorities “are preparing for potential disruptions there.”
The blockade could wind up hurting consumers quite quickly if it drags on. Due to COVID and ongoing semiconductor shortages, there are only about 1 million vehicles in U.S. dealer inventories, according to J.D. Power, down from a mid-winter norm of around 3 million. And the problem is even more severe for some products and brands.
Toyota showrooms have virtually none of those RAV4 SUVs on hand, said senior executive Bob Carter, with many customers buying whatever they can as soon as car haulers arrive from those Ontario assembly plants.
Brycen Collins, the sales manager at Suburban Ford of Ferndale (Michigan) told TheDetroitBureau.com his lot is virtually empty. And he now is worried that it could shrink further due to the blockade.
“Everything I heard is that we have a couple more days before it starts hurting us.”
