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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 7 existed for 80 years, but stopped two years ago when the provincial govern- ment asked the service to take on an alternative run on a three-year con- tract. East Coast Ferries co-owner Velma Lord told the paper she had planned to restore the Eastport-Deer Island service next year. "It's aff ected many, many busi- ness on both sides of the border," Meg Keay, owner of Port O' Call in Eastport and a partner in Fundy Acadia Regional Adventures. "It's like removing a seg- ment of highway in the middle of every- thing." Downeast businesses are starting a campaign to convince the Canadian government not to permanently close the Deer Island port of entry. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T [Re]Produce, a sustainable farm-sur- plus startup created by College of the Atlantic students Anita van Dam and Grace Burchard, won the sixth annual University of Maine Business Challenge and a $5,000 cash prize. The prize money, along with $5,000 more in in- kind services, is from Business Lending Solutions. The COA students plan to launch [Re]Produce in Portland this fall. Sea Bags opened its third Maine store at 6 Main St. in Camden. The 1,300-square- foot store is the largest of 12 stores opened by the Portland-based Sea Bags, which designs, manufactures and sells products handmade from recycled sails. Pineland Farms buying former Grants Dairy Pineland Farms Inc., Maine's largest cheesemaker, said it plans to consolidate S PONS OR ED BY Do you know a Woman to Watch? Submit your nomination at: www.mainebiz.biz/WTW17 Nominations close June 30 Mainebiz is seeking nominations for women business owners, CEOs, presidents, and top executives who have a proven track record of success to be our 2017 Women to Watch. FOLLOW US @MBEVENTS #MBWTW17 Collins seeks answers on impact of automated vehicles on workforce B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y L ast fall, an 18-wheeler loaded with 50,000 cans of Budweiser completed the world's fi rst self-driving truck delivery, traveling 120 miles from a brewery in Fort Collins, Colo., to Colorado Springs. Although there was a driver in the cab, his role was sim- ply to make sure the $30,000 worth of computerized self- driving technology installed by the San Francisco startup Otto navigated the truck safely to its fi nal destination. Once the truck hit the interstate, a high-tech autonomous driving system took over for a test run of what Otto's new owner, Uber, says is the future of trucking. Uber bought the startup last summer for $680 million and, along with its efforts to develop a self-driving car, it's clearly making a substantial bet that self-driving vehicles will be on our highways sooner rather than later. Volvo, Daimler and Peterbilt are other companies seriously exploring self- driving trucks. Impact on jobs? With as many as 2 million Americans employed as truck drivers, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has joined with U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., in asking the U.S. Government Accountability Offi ce to examine the impact that driverless trucks and cars might have on the workforce. Collins is chairwoman and Reed the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. In their letter, Collins and Reed ask the GAO to examine three key questions: 1. What is known about the speed at which automated vehicle technology may be adopted by businesses to replace the current fl eet of vehicles used to transport goods and deliver services? To what extent is the adop- tion of this technology expected to affect employment levels in related occupations? 2. What is known about differences in the skills and training that will likely be needed by those who operate and main- tain vehicles that are automated versus those who oper- ate existing vehicles using a commercial driver's license? 3. How are federally funded employment and training pro- grams, particularly in the regions most likely to be affected by these changes, preparing to assist professional drivers with CDLs whose jobs may be affected and other job seek- ers who seek training and licensure for the professional driving industry? "Automated and self-driving vehicles have a number of exciting potentials, from reducing traffi c accidents and fatalities to enhancing mobility for seniors and disabled individuals," Collins said in a news release about the GAO letter. "Unfortunately, this new technology also carries the risk of negatively affecting the jobs of those who earn a liv- ing through driving. It is vital that we fully understand the future impact of automated and self-driving technology so that we are prepared to help workers adapt to this change." Reed added that the impact of autonomous vehicles will be wide ranging and there is a need for "a roadmap toward integrating self-driving and autonomous vehicles into our transportation system." "We also need a plan to help workers, businesses, and communities that will be impacted by the shift," he stated. Fast track transition? How soon might driverless trucks be traveling our nation's highways making deliveries? In their April 25 letter to the GAO's Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Collins and Reed cite research predicting the switch to autonomous vehicles for freight transit could occur in less than a decade. "Heavier concentrations of these workers tend to be in more rural states where employment options may be limited, and therefore, if these workers and the federally funded pro- grams which support them are unprepared for the techno- logical changes involved in the use of automated vehicles, certain individuals and regional economies could be severely impacted," Collins and Reed wrote in their letter. The Maine Department of Labor's labor market statistics for 2015, the latest fi gures available, reported 5,818 truck transportation jobs, paying total wages of $254 million and an average wage of $43,604; 3,279 general freight trucking jobs, paying total wages of $152.7 million and an average wage of $46,565; and 2,539 specialized freight trucking jobs, paying total wages of $101 million and an average way of $39,782. P O L I T I C S & C O. N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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