In correspondence received earlier today from the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), OTA was notified the reduced load period (RLP) applied to roads in Southern Ontario will be lifted for specific commodities to assist in the Provinces Response to COVID-19.
The following highlights the scope of this initiative that will be in effect until June 30, 2020:
“To assist in the government’s actions to support Ontario’s need to move essential freight and supplies during the current COVID-19 emergency, the Ministry of Transportation is including the commodities listed for exemption in the federal Hours of Service exemptions as issued by Transport Canada (see below chart) from Reduced Load Periods across southern Ontario:
| 1 | Medical supplies and equipment related to the testing, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19; |
| 2 | Supplies and equipment necessary for community safety, sanitation, and prevention of community transmission of COVID-19 such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectants; |
| 3 | Paper products and other groceries for emergency restocking of distribution centers or stores; |
| 4 | Immediate precursor raw materials-such as paper, plastic or alcohol-that are required and to be used for the manufacture of items in categories (1), (2) or (3); |
| 5 | Fuel; |
| 6 | Equipment, supplies and persons necessary to establish and manage temporary housing, quarantine, and isolation facilities related to COVID-19; |
To assist farmers and agribusinesses, the Ministry of Transportation also plans to temporarily exempt the following commodities:
- Food;
- Farm products; and
- Products that support the production of farm products (e.g. seed, animal feed, fertilizer)”
MTO’s efforts also align with relief provided in the Province of Quebec specific to the food supply chain. For complete details and the geographic scope of these provisions please click here: COVID-19 Update – Temp Changes to Reduce Load Period Restrictions_public