- FCA Transport currently has an exclusive contract with the Ambassador Bridge.
- A local UAW chair says truck drivers must not use the new Gordie Howe Bridge.
- Commercial vehicles need to pay a CA$12 or US$8.75 per-axle toll at the new bridge.
Truck drivers who work for Stellantis are being warned that if they use the new Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario, they could face disciplinary action. Rather than using the new bridge, they’re being instructed to keep using the aging Ambassador Bridge, located just down the Detroit River.
The directive appears to apply specifically to FCA Transport drivers covered by UAW Local 212, not to all Stellantis traffic or employees at the Windsor Assembly Plant, CTV News reports.
In a Facebook post directed to transport drivers for the automaker, UAW Local 212 Chair J.T. Barrett said that the company has a contract to exclusively use the Ambassador Bridge. Rather than each truck paying individual tolls to use the bridge, FCA Transport pays a flat rate of $160,000 per month for an unlimited number of crossings.
Autonews Canada captured these screenshots from Facebook before the post was removed.
According to Barrett, the company had been paying more than $400,000 per month prior to signing its contract with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge. With the annual contract, it now saves around $2.9 million annually.
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“This is a message to my membership,” Barrett wrote in the since-deleted post, “who can get disciplined if using the [Gordie Howe] bridge in our company semi-trucks. Not to mention getting pulled into customs for incorrect paperwork,” he added. The union disabled comments on the post after people began casting the directive as political. “This is not about politics,” it wrote.
Will Stellantis Use The New Bridge?
FCA Transport says that if it even plans to cancel its ongoing contract with the Ambassador Bridge, it will need to provide 60 days’ notice. Speaking with CTV News, the automaker said it does plan to use the Gordie Howe International Bridge for its just-in-time manufacturing operations in Canada and the US, although it didn’t state when this could happen, nor if this will apply to allow trucks operated by FCA Transport.
The new bridge officially opened for traffic on July 26, 2026, connecting Interstate 75 in Michigan with Highway 401 in Ontario. The bridge was first proposed in the early 2000s, but construction of it only started in June 2018. Personal vehicles traveling across it are charged a CA$8 or US$5.75 toll, while commercial vehicles pay a CA$12 or US$8.75 per-axle toll.
