truck driver shortage

What Issue Best Encapsulates Industry Problems of 2021? The Trucker Shortage, Experts Say

December 22, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“This year definitely feels different than driver shortages in the past,” said CPC Logistics vice president of operations and safety, Daniel Most. “It seems that no matter what you’re throwing at different markets, you’re just not getting responses.”

Most’s comments come as the trucking industry has come to an agreement that the overarching challenge of 2021, which will likely continue in 2022, is that of the professional driver shortage prevailing across North America.

As older drivers leave the industry–some retiring early due to the pandemic and some due to other factors–and as consumer demands grow exponentially, the current shortage of at least 80,000 drivers–according to American Trucking Associations–will only get much worse over the next few years if major industry-wide improvements are not made.

“I think that you can’t really talk about driver turnover, looking at the last two years, and not talk about COVID,” said Professional Driver Agency‘s director of operations, Scott Dismuke.

Of course, he’s right–the long-lasting shortage has been worsened by the pandemic era, as the shortage prior to 2020 had reached about 61,500. With longer work hours requiring drivers to be away from home for days at a time, on top of mask and vaccine mandates, driver turnover has reached new heights and companies throughout the industry are scrambling to incentivize qualified drivers to join their fleets–turning to pay boosts, new benefits, and sign-on bonuses.

Still, the pool of adequate commercial drivers is limited, and trucking companies are competing heavily to bring those truckers on board quickly in order to meet demands.

“I think what was interesting is…the shift from 2020 to 2021,” Dismuke continued. “I think in 2020, COVID actually kept drivers from jumping [ship] a whole lot. With the economy shutting down, everything froze.”

Because of the confusion regarding where the industry would go at the time, many drivers stayed put, hoping things would restart as usual. Because of this, trucking companies were not looking for many new drivers until the boom of e-commerce brought higher-than-ever freight demand.

“Once the economy really started opening back up at the end of 2020–and really through the first three quarters of the year–I think COVID had a different effect on turnover, because you saw companies really raising pay…you saw a lot of active recruiting,” explained Dismuke.

These efforts came directly after a period where fleets weren’t expecting to have to incentivize drivers, because so many people were worried about losing their jobs.

“I think we saw the other side of the COVID effect with drivers starting to jump [ship],” added Dismuke.

Now, drivers may be looking for more than boosted pay–although many carriers have raised income levels more than once throughout the pandemic.

“Many carriers raised driver pay in 2021,” said Conversion Interactive Agency vice president of marketing and training, Priscilla Peters. “However, in most cases, that didn’t move the needle as expected for driver recruiting. Quality of life for the driver and home time have become the piece of the driver recruiting puzzle where carriers are making adjustments that have impact.”

The bipartisan DRIVE-Safe Act is working as a boosted effort to bring incentives, training, and job opportunities for younger truckers, and to allow drivers under the age of 21 to be trained thoroughly and become able to operate commercial vehicles in interstate hauls.

“I think the two options [for a solution] are creating a program where individuals can move into this field at a younger age, where we’re not forced to try and peel them away as a second career option after they’ve already been doing something [else], or [targeting] more of those other similar-type positions,” said Most. Additionally, recruitment should focus more upon bringing in more military, female, and minority drivers into the industry, he added.

“Everything that you see is talking about what drivers are looking for,” he said. “It’s the home time built in with good pay…built in with the schedules that they’re looking for. A lot of the jobs that we hire for require unloading freight–that makes it even more challenging, and so it just seems like you have to really adjust the type of work that you’re hiring for in order to get the candidates to start to pile in.”

Driver Shortage Affects Winter Road Safety as States Search for Snowplow Drivers

December 16, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“We want the traveling public to understand why it could take longer this season to clear highways during winter storms,” said Montana Department of Transportation maintenance administrator Jon Swartz.

MDOT is currently short of around 90 drivers able and willing to work as snowplow drivers–an issue affecting states across the country. In particular, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Pennsylvania are struggling to find snow plow drivers amidst the current ongoing driver shortage. Finding drivers for these positions is especially difficult as the jobs involve working in hazardous conditions, inclement weather, and strange shifts on top of the requirement for a commercial driver license.

Because of this, industry experts predict that many passenger drivers across the United States will wind up stuck or delayed on snowy roadways.

“Knowing [what’s really happening] helps motorists plan ahead and adjust–or even delay–travel plans,” noted Swartz.

This issue has become more prominent as winter storms have begun bringing in heavy amounts of snow to the Upper Great Lakes, with more snow likely to hit Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Nevada, Iowa, and New Mexico–especially in higher elevations.

The shortage of snowplow operators has been made worse by so many drivers aging out or leaving the industry, a low unemployment rate, and boosted need for trucker and diesel mechanics throughout many different industries. Because of this, private companies have been working to offer incentives like bonuses and increased pay to remain competitive, whereas state agencies aren’t able to be quite so flexible when it comes to salaries and benefits.

“Everyone’s sort of competing for the same group of workers, and private companies can often offer higher salaries than the state government,” explained Washington State Department of Transportation spokeswoman, Barbara LaBoe.

Apparently, state COVID-19 vaccine mandates have exacerbated the issue, as more than 150 winter operations workers left the industry due to compliance opposition, LaBoe added.

Because the trucking industry is facing the largest shortage on record (of more than 80,000 drivers), any state looking for CDL-holding workers are competing with private trucking companies boosting incentives around pay, as well, in a scrambling effort to be able to meet the demands of consumers.

Because of this, many states are offering to pay for the CDL training of snowplow drivers, although new hires with a CDL in hand may still not be available to work as soon as this winter season. Many snowplow operators often work throughout the year in various highway maintenance gigs, with some seasonal drivers coming in to fill the winter shifts.

Various roads needing service in Washington after undergoing major snow storms–particularly, around mountain passes–are likely to be closed for significant amounts of time, LaBoe explained. However, as long as a storm is isolated or doesn’t last long, weather forecasts can help drivers work through them efficiently.

“If we have a series of storms over several days, or if it hits the whole state at once, [the shortage] is going to become more evident because we don’t have as deep a bench,” she said.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ director of the winter maintenance technical service program, Rick Nelson, noted that luckily, snowplow drivers have a strong sense of dedication to their work as they know how important it is to passenger driver, emergency responder, and commercial driver safety.

Bringing in new drivers “to be out there in the worst conditions” is still tricky, though, he added. “You try to recruit, get out there and beat the bushes and convince folks that jumping in a plow in the middle of the night at Christmastime is a good career choice.”

Some states are experiencing the snowplow driver shortage more than others, such as Pennsylvania, which is currently short of around 830 workers. However, state transportation workers are confident the drivers on hand will be able to keep the roads as clear as possible.

“Our goal is to keep roads safe and passable rather than completely free of ice and snow,” said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokeswoman, Alexis Campbell, who added that roads are routinely cleared as soon as there’s a break in snowfall.

Dock Efficiency Relies on Proper Planning; Safety Still Needs Prioritization

December 11, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The nation’s supply chain continues to face difficulties and delays, especially during the pandemic era boost in e-commerce on top of the demands of the holiday season.

Now, finding methods of improving efficiency and speed is imperative for warehouse companies, dock equipment managers, and the trucking industry.

“Efficiency is about clear, routine operations with reduced manual steps and communication with everyone that is working the dock area, including the transportation drivers,” said Blue Giant Equipment Corp.’s director of engineered solutions, Gerard Biasutto.

Delayed or missed deliveries, on top of driver annoyance, are common challenges for many fleets–especially given the current difficulties surrounding the truck driver shortage.

“I am frequently speaking with drivers about the growing delays at shippers’ docks,” said Grand Island Express’ director of operations, Deen Albert. “Although we are constantly reviewing and revising our delay [and] detention pay to our drivers, this is a growing frustration for drivers and is a threat to driver retention in our industry.”

Additionally, loading docs require regular maintenance, updates, and planning to keep productivity levels high.

“The loading dock is often an ignored place from a maintenance and equipment standpoint, but it is the first and last entry point for the product,” said director of marketing at Ideal Warehouse, Dirk Seis.

To keep less-than-truckload operations working smoothly and on time, the loading dock must keep hours of service open for as long as possible, noted the operations leader of productivity and efficiency at Averitt Express, Amos Rogan.

“Much like the airline industry, the customer expectation is for those flights to depart and arrive timely to make service,” he said. “LTL is the same in that we must hit our schedules to meet the expectations of our customers.”

Of course, proper communication is the most important part of keeping dock shipments moving as safe as possible, Rogan added.

“If you don’t have a good plan of how shipments are going to be processed, you will see dock associates not moving at their highest potential,” he said, adding that project planning includes mapping out routes so that cross-dock movement can take place smoothly. “Anyone working the dock will only be as good as the plan they are working with.”

Still, the biggest issue when it comes to delays at loading docks is typically understaffing.

“As a carrier, we can see that the staging areas are becoming more and more congested,” said Grant Island Express’ Albert. “In certain circumstances, this can be due to a lack of space, but in many circumstances, this is due to an inefficient or overloaded workflow. This creates a visual illustration directly to our drivers and adds to the delay concerns that are already mounting.”

Understanding a dock’s layout is also particularly important when it comes to timely deliveries and pickups.

“We measure our productivity in not only how many pounds per hour we move across the dock but also how many feet per shipment a dock associate travels,” noted Averitt’s Rogan. “If you are shipping trailers on one end of the dock and loading on the other, you’re wasting valuable time traveling back and forth for each shipment.”

Although the issues around potential delays and efficiency are causing further problems for the supply chain, Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson doesn’t want carriers to jump the gun in onboarding new drivers to meet these demands, as safety training around this type of transportation is imperative.

“Everyone understands the pressures of getting trucks loaded, but we always need to keep safety in mind,” he said. “Like anything else, it may be busy and we may want to get things done quickly and get back home, but that doesn’t mean anything should be done unsafely.”

For companies bringing new transportation workers to the loading docks for the first time, Levinson urges that they prioritize safety training efforts as much as possible.

“This is a good time to reiterate protocols to make sure loads are safely sealed and that people are kept safe,” he said.

Is Allowing Teenage Truckers to Haul Interstate Cargo the Answer to the Driver Shortage? Industry Groups Say Yes

December 10, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“Regulatory flexibilities, especially during emergencies, are vital to supply chain continuity,” wrote a coalition of trucking industry groups in a recent letter to President Joe Biden.

This statement comes as part of an overarching request to ease federal truck driver testing requirements in an effort to find a solution for the current ongoing truck driver shortage in the United States. This particular request calls for methods of allowing teenage drivers to begin entering the industry as interstate truck drivers.

In fact, new legislature implemented by Biden will allow drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 to operate commercial motor vehicles across state lines as part of a three-year pilot program. This program–which became part of the new infrastructure bill as a way to help the trucking industry meet demands at a time where the driver shortage has reached 80,000 truckers–has received strong opposition from industry safety advocates. The most prevalent argument against the new rule? Teenage drivers are involved in car accidents and crashes at a rate of four times more than their older counterparts.

“Allowing teens to drive big rigs across state borders in the face of research showing that this age group has significantly higher fatal crash rates is reckless and dangerous,” said co-chair of Parents Against Tired Truckers, Russ Swift. “An empty store shelf is not as tragic as an empty chair at Christmas dinner because your loved one needlessly died in a crash caused by a teen trucker.”

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase agreed, noting that allowing such young drivers to operate CMVs would allow for “inexperienced, risk-prone teenagers” to bring higher safety risks to everyone on the road.

In addition, more flexible hours-of-service regulations have been extended during the pandemic and the shortage, continuing from a Trump-era exemption allowing drivers to extend their on-duty periods to 14 hours and to be able to split their rest breaks how they’d like. Initially, truckers were limited by the Department of Transportation to driving only 11 hours a day with at least one mandatory half-hour break in the first eight hours of their on-duty period. This flexibility arguably worsens the ongoing issue of truck driver fatigue, which reduces overall safety on America’s roadways.

“Long workdays, excessive driving hours, and unreasonable delivery demands jeopardize the safety of truck drivers and motorists,” said president of the Truck Safety Coalition, Dawn King.

Still, the trucking industry stays convinced that the most practical way to ease the shortage, boost the economy, and meet rising e-commerce demands is to lower the minimum age of transporting this cargo.

“Older drivers are leaving and retiring, and we’re not bringing in younger drivers to replace them fast enough,” said John Stomps, CEO of Total Transportation of Mississippi, noting that he believes this is the only way to help the current strain on the country’s supply chain.

Executive vice president for advocacy at American Trucking Associations, Bill Sullivan, has tried reassuring these safety advocates that trucking companies will prioritize safety when they onboard such young interstate truckers.

“The last thing any of our members want to do is do this unsafely,” he said. “We want to produce a driver who is at least as safe as a21-year-old.

The coalition of trucking industry organizations that wrote to Biden about pushing forward regulation relaxations are also working to ensure truck drivers are not mandated to become vaccinated against COVID-19, claiming that truck drivers spend the majority of their work days alone. Because of this, they believe a mandate would be unnecessary and may cause more truckers to leave the industry itself.

“We’re not anti-vaccine, but in our survey of 120,000 truckers, 50% were vaccinated and 50% weren’t vaccinated,” said Sullivan. “37% of all drivers said they would go to a company that doesn’t have a vaccine mandate or leave the industry altogether.”

These added flexibilities may help ease the long-term truck driver shortage and help the industry meet the current demands of the country, but it’s clear that keeping shipments efficient is more important to many industry members than the safety of truckers or other drivers with whom they share the road.

Legislation lowering the minimum age for operating commercial motor vehicles across state lines is highly likely to come to fruition, industry experts believe.

Driver Schools See High Numbers of Potential Drivers Amid Shortage, Some Offer Incentives

December 3, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“It’s an exciting time to be a truck driver right now because there’s so much demand for drivers,” said director of the California Truck Driving Academy, Tina Singh. “Our yards are busy, and they’re very vibrant with a lot of activity.”

The truck driver school, based in Los Angeles, has seen more potential truck drivers walk through its doors recently than it has in quite a while, which can likely be attributed to the long-running truck driver shortage taking place across the country that has brought with it competitive pay and benefit offers from fleets desperate to onboard more truckers.

Since 2020, the California Truck Driving Academy has had a nearly 20% boost in enrollment and may even begin offering night classes to meet demands, according to Singh.

“Everything in this country runs by truck at some point or another,” she said. “And so, you know, you need truck drivers to move goods.”

Because the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a major increase in e-commerce and online shopping habits, consumer spending has risen 15% over the last year, with production numbers reaching numbers of 5% more than before the start of the pandemic as manufacturers step up to meet the demand for goods as efficiently as possible.

Additionally, many employees in a variety of industries decided to leave jobs during the pandemic that caused them to frequently come into contact with other people. Because of this, goods transport worker, retail staffer, and ship-unloading worker shortages skyrocketed, as did the overall shortage of truck drivers–which has reached about 80,000, noted University of Southern California’s Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management’s executive director, Nick Vyas.

The California Truck Driving Academy has also seen boosts in potential drivers showing up for training due to a clearly stretched-thin supply chain at ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles, where many ships are often waiting off the coast for unloading for long periods of time (the average wait is currently at 17 days, although port efforts are operating 24/7).

By filling these vacant roles, “you’re kind of helping the community out, and you’re making money at the same time,” said Academy student Thierno Barry. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Driving schools in other states are also doing their part to ease the exacerbated driver shortage. FleetForce Truck Driving School is now working with the Florida Trucking Association in an effort to bring more truckers into the industry.

FTA-affiliated companies are currently offering to pay full tuition for new truck drivers working to enter the trucking world and obtain their commercial driver’s licenses. Additionally, some students will be able to receive sign-on bonuses along with a full paycheck from the FTA-affiliated company once they’ve received their CDL and are continuing training.

“Trucking is a central part of growing and maintaining a strong economy, but it’s also a life-changing career opportunity for so many people,” said Tra Williams, CEO of FleetForce. “This new program is offering free training and guaranteed employment for applicants who meet the qualifications.”

Williams echoed Barry’s sentiments about how mutually beneficial entering the industry at this time really is for both the economy and the truckers themselves.

“There’s excellent earning potential in this industry right now, and there’s a dire need for entry-level drivers,” Williams said. “It’s a win-win.”

Covering these kinds of costs for new truckers is especially important, as training costs can often deter potential truckers from even beginning the road to employment.

“FTA is always looking for creative solutions to solve industry challenges,” said FTA President, Alix Miller. “The driver shortage limits capacity for trucking companies, and directly impacts the economy and Floridians’ daily lives. This collaboration matches some of the most well-respected companies in the state with well-trained drivers eager to get on the road.”

Right now, FleetForce is working on pre-hire screening checks to make sure incoming applicants are indeed qualified for this particular program. As for the California Truck Driving Academy–what’s currently needed the most is more truck driving instructors.

Industry Experts Focus on Workforce Updates as Supply Chain Struggles, Jay Stefani Weighs in on Safety Concerns

December 1, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

At the recent U.S. House of Representatives transportation panel, President of American Trucking Associations, Chris Spear, explained that finding solutions to current nationwide supply chain concerns should come primarily from trucking industry workforce improvement policies.

Federal transportation policymakers were urged to consider supply chain improvement proposals at the hearing by a variety of leaders in the transportation industry. Some of these potential initiatives brought to light during the discussion included an industrywide workforce development project and other methods of combating the ongoing truck driver shortage.

In fact, ATA’s Spear noted that training-focused funding throughout the most important sectors of freight would be paramount to overcoming the shortage of 80,000 drivers–especially with these problems so exacerbated by the pandemic era and the boom of e-commerce and accessibility issues that came with it.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it the temporary closures of state [departments of motor vehicles] and truck driver training schools, which dried up the already-fragile pipeline of new drivers entering the trucking industry,” he said in a push for funding from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “This pipeline is still slow and inefficient today. As a result, companies working throughout the nation’s supply chain are facing higher transportation costs leading to increased prices for consumers on everything from electronics to food.”

President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes an apprenticeship pilot program that has been strongly supported by ATA, as it will allow trained drivers under the age of 21 to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. The initiative also allows for the implementation of a training program for even younger drivers (between 18 and 20 years old) to drive Class 8 trucks across multiple states.

“The driver shortage is a looming threat that, if unaddressed, could destabilize the continuity of trucking operations with ripple effects across the supply chain that will be felt by everyday Americans,” lamented Spear, emphasizing the need for these apprenticeship programs.

Regardless of a shortage, keeping safety the priority is imperative when bringing these new and young potential truckers to the industry.

“There is nothing wrong with trying to increase the number of truck drivers to meet the needs,” said Levinson and Stefani’s Jay Stefani. “But along with the push to hire more people, there needs to be an equal increase in safety and training programs. Bringing in new drivers means bringing in inexperienced drivers–drivers who don’t have a lot of miles behind them.”

It should also be common sense that allowing these truck drivers to enter the industry in the midst of the winter season’s inclement weather is something to be avoided, as well, Stefani added.

“That is especially critical when you consider hiring inexperienced drivers right when winter is upon us,” he continued. “Driving a tractor-trailer in snowy, icy conditions is not the same as driving your four-door sedan in that same weather.”

Still, many industry experts made clear their desire to focus on efforts that would work to boost the supply chain as it stands.

“[Transportation Intermediaries Association] members continue to be industry leaders in the technology space, as they must constantly innovate to address an ever-evolving and growing industry,” said CEO and president of TIA, Anne Reinke. “For example, our members utilize the latest technology to facilitate the movement of freight from one point to another. These solutions include maximum freight visibility with real-time data, automation in the back-end office, and utilizing artificial intelligence.”

It’s also important to look toward the supply chain’s relationship with the current environmental regulations at hand, according to Association of American Railroads’ president and CEO, Ian Jefferies. At the panel, Jefferies asked Congress to make sure federal regulations set forth through the National Environmental Policy Act won’t hinder any new infrastructure coming about.

“Federal agencies should promulgate regulations that allow for careful, thorough consideration of the environmental impacts of proposed projects but in a time-limited manner that does not cause unnecessary delay,” he said. “Such an approach would expedite projects that enhance supply chain fluidity but would not prevent comprehensive, effective environmental reviews from taking place.”

These upcoming infrastructure projects are part of Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

“The bipartisan law will modernize our ports, our airports, [and] our freight rail to make it easier for companies to get goods to market, reduce supply chain bottlenecks–as we’re experiencing now,” said Biden, “and lower costs for you and your family.”