Tilbury trucking company gets proactive with rigs
Harbour Link invites police vehicle inspection unit
Officers in the Delta Police Department's vehicle inspection unit, including special Const. Sean Kelly, spent three days at Tilbury-based Harbour Link Containers Services Inc. last week.
Photograph by: Gord Goble , Delta Optimist
One local company recently put its trucks under the microscope.
Harbour Link Containers Services Inc. invited the Delta police commercial vehicle inspection unit to have a look at its trucks last week.
"For us, it's all about being proactive," said general manager Tim McGee.
The officers spent three days at the Tilbury-based company inspecting its trucks.
Harbour Link is privately owned and operates as an independent provider of intermodal container transport and off-dock container terminal services.
The company has about 75 trucks - 23 it owns and the rest as owner/operators - almost 90 drivers and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Harbour Link moves about 13,000 20-foot equivalent containers a year and serves many in the industry, including shipping lines, big box retailers, importers and exporters, from an 11-acre site that is a maze of shipping containers.
On a busy day, McGee said, Harbour Link will see about 400 truck trips. On a slower day, that number is around 150.
McGee said the company decided to open its doors to the police department's vehicle inspection unit to ensure all of its trucks were up to safety standards.
Officers were putting the trucks through the paces and then working with drivers and on-site mechanics to fix any issues.
The commercial vehicle inspection unit is out on Delta roads on a daily basis, pulling over and inspecting trucks. The department joins with several other agencies every year for an annual truck inspection blitz, which targets trucks the officers suspect might pose a safety risk.
As well, officers often visit with drivers and trucking companies to inspect trucks or educate drivers on safety.
Special Const. Sean Kelly said drivers are trained, and required, to carry out a safety inspection before each trip, however, the officers can point out other things drivers should be looking for.
One of the police department's strategic goals is to make Delta's roads the safest in B.C., said Sgt. Kevin Jones, and with the number of trucks travelling through the community on a daily basis, the unit tries to ensure those posing a safety risk are taken off the road.
Kelly said the two most common safety issues the unit sees are brakes that are not working properly and cargo that is not properly secured.
