driver shortage

ATRI Releases Top Industry Issues List, Driver Shortage Remains Biggest Concern

October 26, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A top concern for the transportation industry this year is, once again, that of the continuing truck driver shortage.

The American Transportation Institute has released its annual list of Top Industry Concerns on Sunday at American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition, and this ongoing shortage tops the list for the fifth year in a row. In fact, when votes were counted for the most prevalent concerns of industry members, the driver shortage was found to have four times the number of votes as the second highest-ranking concern–truck driver retention.

Following behind the issues of driver shortages and retention problems, the list included driver compensation in third place, lawsuit abuse reform in fourth, and inadequate truck parking availability in fifth. A shortage of diesel technicians ended up in 10th place–the first time this issue has made the list in any capacity.

“The ATRI list of top industry issues provides a critical snapshot of the challenges impacting our industry at any given moment,” said Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, Chairman of ATA and CEO of Garner Trucking. “This year is no exception, as supply chain constraints dominate the nation’s headlines.”

The true value of ATRI’s list, Brumbaugh noted, is that the organization offers methods of solving these pressing problems.

“ATRI’s analysis not only captures the industry’s sentiment on the criticality of each of these issues, but [it] also maps out a course for addressing each [problem] through the stakeholder-ranked strategies.”

More than 2,500 stakeholders throughout the trucking industry–including drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, motor carriers, and law enforcement–took part in this year’s survey. Around a quarter of participants identified as truck drivers.

“It really is no surprise that truck driver-related issues–notably, the driver shortage and driver retention–ranked so [highly] on the survey,” said Rebecca Brewster, President of ATRI. “Coming out of the pandemic, with the increased demand for goods and other pressures on the supply chain, getting and keeping drivers has been a real challenge industrywide.”

Brewster noted that the supply chain demand that was exacerbated throughout the boom of e-commerce during the pandemic era has clearly had major effects across many aspects of the industry, as made clear in this survey.

“We also see the impacts of the current supply chain crunch in how highly issues like driver compensation, truck parking, infrastructure, and driver detention ranked on the list.”

Because so many truckers are retiring in the midst of the pandemic while newer truckers making their way into the industry are experiencing slow starts due to delays in commercial driver training and licensing, Chief Economist for American Trucking Associations, Bob Costello, raised the overall number of drivers estimated to be needed in the industry from 61,500 to 80,000.

“This is somewhat pandemic-related; we didn’t train enough drivers,” he said, noting that this insufficient number of trained drivers is making it difficult for the industry to keep up with the growing freight demand. “It’s the traditional things we’ve been talking about for the last two decades–it’s the high average age of drivers, not [having] enough females [in the industry], lifestyle [issues], and then you throw in some things that have exacerbated [the issue].”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety measurement system for compliance, safety, and accountability also ranked highly on ATRI’s list–coming in at sixth place this year.

“Carriers are concerned about the peer groups they’re being scored in,” explained Brewster. “There really is still a lot of concern among the industry over this issue.”

Following closely behind on the list is the issue of driver detention, with ATRI adding that at customer facilities, drivers are often not given restroom or facility access while delayed in their freight deliveries. Additionally, these drivers also are often prohibited from staying onsite at the facility if they run over their hours-of-service time allotment during such a delay.

Finally, ranking eighth on the list was transportation infrastructure, funding, and congestion. This points to major issues such as the 1-40 Hernando de Soto bridge closure earlier this year. Because the bridge served as the Mississippi River connection between Memphis and Arkansas, the industry faced costs of more than $1 million during repairs.

Truckers Recognized for Safe Driving, But Driver Shortage Still Looms

October 22, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

116 drivers for J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc. are receiving major recognition for having driven one million miles without any preventable accident occurrences.

For the first time, some of these drivers had reached 5 million safe miles, with other drivers reaching between 2- and 4-million miles without preventable incidents. During its Million Mile Celebration, the company celebrated these drivers at its Lowell, Arkansas corporate headquarters. This company event held for safe drivers and their families has taken place since 2011, although recognition for Million Mile drivers began in 1971.

“Our Million Mile drivers represent the epitome of who we want all of our drivers to be,” said president of contract services and chief operating officer of J.B. Hunt, Nick Hobbs. “It’s their unwavering commitment to be the very best at what they do that makes this accomplishment so special. We couldn’t do what we do without them.”

Additionally, these drivers continued company tradition to celebrate this achievement by walking in the Million Mile Walk of Flame–descending four flights of stairs which were filled with other company employees cheering them on. For these drivers who went above and beyond in their attention to safety, the company awarded safe driver bonuses equaling more than $1.6 million.

“We’ve been hosting this ceremony for 20 years, and I believe we’ll be doing it for 20 more,” said John Roberts, the company’s CEO. “The atmosphere is electric. There’s so much excitement to celebrate our drivers and their achievements.”

Now, these drivers will be commemorated on the Million Mile Wall, a wall recognizing all J.B. Hunt drivers who have reached between 1 million and 5 million safe miles. Nearly 4,000 company drivers are listed on this wall.

Although having this many loyal company drivers operating their vehicles so safely is a win for the industry, other trucking experts are worried that safety isn’t enough when the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the ongoing truck driver shortage.

“COVID exposed the underlying reasons for the shortage–an aging workforce with an average age of 55 and an industry that has struggled to recruit younger people or retain existing drivers,” said President of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, Greg Fulton. “That paradigm left the trucking industry vulnerable to a major unforeseen event, such as the pandemic.”

Fulton explained that trucking was more heavily impacted by the effects of pandemic than many other American industries, especially with so many drivers leaving or retiring instead of continuing on in during this difficult time.

“Has anyone stopped to ask if these drivers would have left if the pandemic never happened?” Fulton asked. “Many of these drivers were among the industry’s most skilled and safest, and maybe they weren’t quite ready to leave the road. Some left due to circumstances such as health concerns or the economy, not necessarily because they wanted to stop driving.”

For some of the older drivers who did leave to be incentivized to return to the industry, Fulton suggests that trucking must be restructured in a way that offers lucrative pay and an adequate lifestyle for them.

“At this point in their lives, many of these drivers want to be home every night, and may find loading or unloading freight a challenge,” he said. “Short routes that allow them to sleep in their own beds at night, and jobs that are less physically demanding–such as drop-and-hook loads with “no-touch” freight–may encourage them to come back.”

Fulton did note that that boosted recognition of truck drivers–especially for their efforts during COVID–have caught the attention of many people throughout the country who may be interested in entering the industry.

“The improved public image of trucking may also compel [the drivers who left] to return,” he said. “The pandemic elevated the importance of truck drivers to the public, and the public is also now more aware of the driver shortage–which on the ground level, may lead to greater appreciation shown to these professionals.”

Still, though, attracting back some drivers who left as well as attracting younger potential drivers needs to be the priority to keep the industry meeting demand.

“Longer-term, we must create a pipeline to fill our future needs,” Fulton said, “This improved public image may create greater interest by younger people to consider careers in trucking. It will take some time, but telling our industry’s story now to the incoming generation–especially in this moment–is vital.”

Ways to Find Young, Safe Drivers is Focus of Latest Initiative by ATRI

August 18, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Due to the current national truck driver shortage, the industry is focusing on recruiting eligible drivers in the 18-to-20-year-old range, and new efforts will help industry experts determine the safest drivers in this group.

This new assessment tool is in development through the American Transportation Research Institute and will aim to find the best interstate commercial drivers in this young age range. Still in beta testing, the Young Driver Assessment Tool is an initiative meant to help identify which drivers are the most likely to be especially safe. These determinations come at the hands of specific safety profiles that focus on mental health, physiological traits, and personality aspects of a driver.

“ATRI’s Young Driver Assessment Tool can potentially identify those new entrant drivers who share the same personality attributes as safe, mature, veteran drivers,” explained Rebecca Brewster, President of ATRI. “We look forward to expanding our pilot test to include more younger drivers to further validate the tool’s accuracy.”

In the original assessment initiative, drivers of differing experience levels, ages, and overall safety performance were analyzed during the testing of drivers with a median age of 47–16 drivers were under the age of 30. As of now, drivers 21 and younger are federally prohibited from working across state lines and must only work within intrastate commerce with various freight restrictions also in place.

During initial testing, drivers underwent a myriad of evaluations involving aspects such as sleep quality, cognitive control, impulsivity, reasoning, sensation-seeking, and other personality traits. Then, their overall safety performance was determined by analyzing pre-employment screening data as well as their state motor vehicle records. These records offered data regarding past accident involvement and other safety violations.

The safest group of commercial drivers, according to ATRI’s findings, included those who scored the lowest in the “experience seeking” category and the highest in the “conscientiousness and agreeableness” category. Those who were found to be not-so-safe demonstrated particular cognitive control issues and had much larger reactions regarding “multi-source interference task” conflicts.

“Given all the internal and external pressures on driver recruitment and retention, it is safe to say that the driver shortage crisis is not going away,” said Joyce Brenny, CEO of Brenny Transportation.

Within the beta test, it was made clear that age-related differences regarding safety were prevalent in terms of a driver’s overall performance, although the safety differences were also visible among older drivers who had been driving for shorter periods of time. Still, the assessment tool’s overarching goal is to find the drivers between the ages of 18 and and 21 who have the qualities of highly-experienced and safe drivers.

“We need to find ways to expand the pool of safe truck drivers, and ATRI’s preliminary research indicates that safe, younger drivers can be found,” Brenny continued.

Because of this belief, Brenny Transportation has established an apprenticeship initiative to be able to train young drivers entering the trucking world more efficiently.

“At Brenny, our young-driver apprentice program has a proven track record,” Brenny explained. “Proper training and mentoring of young individuals who want to become truck drivers does work.”

With current projected freight growth, the driver shortage could rise from 60,000 to 100,000 by 2023, ATRI estimates. Employer competition and oncoming retirements of older truckers affect these numbers as well. For instance, 27.4% of the trucking workforce is over the age of 55, and the trucking industry’s present reliance upon those particular workers means employers will need to boost numbers of potentially qualified drivers.

ATRI has been working on solving the problems surrounding driver recruitment for six years by finding methods of determining which young and qualified people would be the safest and best candidates to enter the trucking workforce. ATRI also plans to expand its beta testing to a larger driver sample and to also expand safety performance attributes and qualities for drivers being tested.

The DRIVE-Safe Act, a federal initiative to allow young drivers to operate vehicles across state lines following apprenticeship programs and strict training (while operating special safety technology-equipped trucks) has been backed by American Trucking Associations and many other groups throughout the industry.

The Truck Driver Shortage–What is Really Going On?

June 26, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Truck or bus driver hands holding steering wheel and smoking cigarette in public places.

The truck driver shortage continues to run rampant throughout the United States, even making ATRI’s Most Wanted List of trucking industry concerns year after year. But, is this nationwide shortage really as prevalent as the industry says?

Sisu Energy out of Texas recently made headlines when it offered to pay truckers up to “$728,000 a year” due to the shortage being so pervasive.

“Those news stories flying around out there are very misleading and inaccurate,” said Sisu’s director of recruiting, Karrie Gundy, who noted that the company doesn’t even pay yearly salaries to truckers. In fact, Sisu hires independent contractors solely, meaning they get paid by the loads they haul and can only begin earning once they have the certifications, licensing, skills, and commercial truck needed to haul “frac sand” for the company. Still, the company maintains that productive truckers can eventually make $14,000 a week (although they have to cover their own insurance, fuel, equipment, and maintenance costs).

American Trucking Associations, along with other lobbying groups, have pushed the argument that the shortage of truck drivers has remained a major national issue for four decades now, but one may wonder how could such an employee shortage last so long? Has it really affected the average consumer? It is simple economics that when worker numbers are low, you need to raise wages to solve the problem. So, what’s really going on?

“In our type of economy, worker shortages are usually solved by employers paying higher wages to entice people to work for them,” said Levinson and Stefani’s Jay Stefani. “It is beyond believable that a driver shortage could last four decades without the trucking industry improving working conditions or paying fair wages.”

Groups like ATA have been claiming that relaxed regulations in the trucking industry would help to bring in more drivers, such as legislation like the DRIVE-Safe Act. This bill would allow drivers between 18- and 21-years-old to operate commercial trucks across state lines.

The trucking industry loves cheap labor, and has found ways to secure it for decades.

“The driver shortage has been a persistent issue in our industry for many years,” said ATA’s chief economist, Bob Costello. “We have numerous examples of fleets of all sizes raising pay, increasing bonuses, and increasing benefits–like time at home–in response to the shortage.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this shortage, Costello explained, noting that recent regulation changes, and even stricter truck driver drug testing, have added fuel to the fire.

The main area the shortage affects within the industry is within that of long-haul trucking as more of these truckers leave the industry or retire, according to ATA. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators adds that while 450,000 new commercial driver’s licenses are issued each year, there are only currently between 300,000 and 500,000 long-haul truck drivers currently operating throughout the country.

“We have millions of people who have been trained to be heavy-duty truck drivers who are currently not working as heavy-duty truck drivers because the entry-level jobs are terrible,” said University of Pennsylvania sociologist and trucking industry expert, Steve Viscelli.

Millions of Americans have been drawn to the trucking industry, but the way in which large trucking companies operate causes these new truckers to give up quickly. The largest concern? Wages.

Although the median annual income of a truck driver is just over $47,000, long-haulers often operate their trucks for an excessive number of hours–around 70 hours a week, if not more. Additionally, truckers are usually only paid for the number of miles they drive–on average, 52.3 cents per mile.

If these truckers must slow down en route due to construction, traffic, or inclement weather, they do not get paid more. They also don’t receive more pay for the time it takes to load or unload their hauls, nor for their “off-duty” time while they’re on the road.

“Driving a truck–especially interstate–is a difficult and demanding job,” noted Stefani. “These folks work long hours at physically demanding jobs. They’re being pressured to drive more miles in less time and for less money. And if they don’t? The trucking companies threaten to hire someone who will. And weakening safety standards–such as allowing teenagers to obtain CDLs–only lowers the bar, allowing these motor carriers to pay even less.”

The issue at hand isn’t finding ways to make entering the trucking industry more enticing to younger drivers. The solution? Make trucking companies pay their drivers enough–or more than enough–to do this difficult job that is essential to the American economy.

As National Driver Shortage Continues, Carriers Boost Trucker Wages

June 18, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Female African American courier staring a mini van while going on package delivery.

“Our drivers have worked extremely hard during these unprecedented times of high demand and tight capacity, and we are proud to recognize them with this industry-leading pay package,” said President of Maverick Transportation, John Culp.

These kinds of updates come as trucking companies throughout the industry see the continuing driver shortage carrying on, and as more truck drivers desire boosted wages in order to stay in their positions–(and not worsen the shortage as it stands).

Maverick, specifically, recently announced it would increase pay for its marine, glass, flatbed, and dedicated drivers, with Averitt Express announcing later its promise to boost wages for dock associates, diesel mechanics, local drivers, and shuttle drivers as well.

Earlier in April, WEL Cos. also announced it would be increasing wages by 4 cents a mile for its truckers.

“Our local driving and support associates are the champions of the communities we serve,” said Averitt’s vice president of operations, Barry Blakely, in regards to the company’s boosted wages. “For 50 years, Averitt has been committed to serving our customers and our team, and this increase will ensure that we can continue to provide exceptional service in all areas.”

Beginning May 16th, student drivers at Maverick began to see payments rise to around 60 cents per mile–an average income of about $80,000 per year. Flatbed and glass over-the-road truck drivers at the company are now receiving an increase of 3 to 4 cents a mile, with experienced truckers earning up to 66 cents per mile.

These are not the first times in 2021 trucking companies have made efforts to boost employee wages–Maverick first announced a pay raise for glass, flatbed, and dedicated drivers in early January, with the other two companies following suit–Averitt announced a pay bump for all of its regional flatbed and truckload drivers back in March, and WEL had also increased rates by 3 cents per mile earlier in the year.

Still, though, it has been made clear to many industry professionals that a truck driver shortage of this caliber can not simply be remedied with just pay boosts, explained Bob Costello, Chief Economist for the American Trucking Associations.

“There is so much going on here,” he said. “You can write a whole PhD thesis on this if you really wanted to.”

Costello noted that he believes these current circumstances and motivations to boost wages are just a regular market reaction.

“Things that come to mind include the natural market reaction to any situation where demand outstrips supply as price goes up,” he explained. “And so, I am absolutely not surprised at all that pay is going up for drivers. It should go up, [and] it will continue to go up. But it’s also sign-on bonuses and guaranteed minimum weekly pay. It’s all this sort of stuff. But as I say over and over and over, if this was only about pay, this would be easy to fix.”

According to Costello, the trucking industry lost around 32,000 overall jobs in 2020, with most of those positions being those of truck drivers. Only a small number of jobs have been added since then, including in sectors where roles were cut–production jobs, nonsupervisory roles, for-hire trucking jobs and non-local trucking jobs. As of now, the official number of truck drivers let go or who left the industry in 2020 is not yet available.

“Back at the end of last year, we were actually at the height of all this in terms of drivers coming back,” noted FTR Transportation Intelligence vice president of trucking research, Avery Vise. “[During] the fourth quarter of last year, trucking added almost 29,000 payroll jobs. And that’s actually the most that have been added in any three-month period in 25 years. That was actually the middle of what seemed to be a speedy recovery.”

Trucking companies now need to prioritize retention, Costello explained, as companies throughout the country are working with the same pool of candidates and a limited number of new truckers entering the industry. Additionally, for driver recruitment to see any significant increases, potential employees and contractors need to know that their quality of life on the job will be high, in addition to attractive benefits and pay.

“I think it was a hole that we got dug into,” said Costello in regards to 2020’s obstacles. “Now that the vaccine is more prevalent and getting around, I think we can make some headway in this area. But what I’m saying is you’re not going to dig out of this hole–that training gap hole–any time soon.”