Posted on 09/13/2019 1:02:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In 2018, the trucking industry was short roughly 60,800 drivers – up nearly 20% from 2017’s figure of 50,700. If current trends hold, the American Trucking Association (ATA) says the shortage could rise to more than 160,000 by 2028.
The driver shortage is a problem for the entire supply chain, as 71.4% of all freight tonnage is moved on the nation’s highways, ATA says in its Truck Driver Shortage Analysis 2019 report.
“The increase in the driver shortage should be a warning to carriers, shippers and policymakers, because if conditions don’t change substantively, our industry could be short just over 100,000 drivers in five years and 160,000 drivers in 2028,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a news release announcing the report.
To meet the U.S. demand, the trucking industry must hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers, or an average of nearly 110,000 per year, to replace retiring drivers and keep on pace with the growth in the economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at agprofessional.com ...
[Since then, Indian truck drivers, Sihks specifically, have made HUGE inroads into American trucking. Some of them have become successful enough to start buying truck stops. You can now get some fantastic Indian cuisine at truck stops in Wyoming! ]
“This country is way too litigious for driverless vehicles.”
Paid off politicians will pass legislation limiting liability to protect the industry.
Not just pay, but from what I hear, general working conditions. A driver should be able to expect to be paid for their time. If they’re told to drop a load somewhere and the receivers make them wait hours to unload, why’s that the driver’s problem? That’s just one example.
They expect people to take a job where they’re away from home on the road for weeks on end, living in a sleeper and eating at truck stops, and to do it for peanuts?
Finding a truck is a bearcat right now.
My son works in a shipping dept. A lot of the drivers who deliver to them can’t speak English. And it’s not just the Mexicans. Indians and Paki’s are mixed in as well.
[There have also been changes to truckers allowable work hours which has added loading and unloading times to actual driving hours - thereby significantly reducing how long they actually drive. Truckers are less able to make profitable long runs because they must wait before picking up a return delivery.]
What do you mean?
“...To meet the U.S. demand, the trucking industry must hire roughly 1.1 million new drivers,..”
Somalis and muzzies(SPIT!) are lining-up by the millions.
The democrats have a great idea. Ban coal, gas & oil and the internal combustion engine. Get all these smelly old diesels off the road. Our goods can be delivered by flying unicorns.
Raise the wage/compensation and you’ll likely meet demand...
I know a life long driver. The deep state keeps raising the hurdles to keep driving. Its way beyond safety and is chasing out many drivers as it weeds out ‘so called’ less desirable drivers.
[My son works in a shipping dept. A lot of the drivers who deliver to them can’t speak English. And it’s not just the Mexicans. Indians and Paki’s are mixed in as well.]
Put the cargo on ships — fast path to the bottom of the Brunswick channel.
[Somalis and muzzies(SPIT!) are lining-up by the millions.]
Kenyans would disagree with your assessment of Somalis!
The government has created a regulatory nightmare for the trucking industry. Drivers are treated, by government regulators, as if they were children. In every single aspect of the industry government has stripped individual accomplishment from the equation. Truckers have been heroes on the highway. Today they are treated like highwayman brigands.
Yeah I saw some Indian drivers before I retired. Most of them had either grown up here or had learned to drive here. All I met spoke great English and knew the regs.
Schneider had contracted with a company in India to bring over adult males from India to drive. The ones being brought over would have had to be trained in U.S. laws and probably English.
My neurologist is an Indian who grew up here, learned to drive here. A couple of years ago he took a month long trip to visit his extended family in India. On my first visit after his return I asked about his trip. He looked at me and said the heat and humidity sucked, the food quality was terrible, sanitation was nonexistent and not ONE person in the country knew how to drive.
Other than that the trip was great!
Thanks for the links.
I don't know how they'd get away with that. If that's true, they obviously think the drivers time is worth zip zero.
The extremely tight regulation of hours and speeds has made driving much less entrepreneurial in a way. Drivers now are on specific pay schedules and cannot add to their income by efficiency or speeding or driving over a specific number of hours while their per mile does not increase to compensate. Of course the roads are safer for the drivers and for the rest of us but the price for the safety improvement is the dearth of drivers.
The extremely tight regulation of hours and speeds has made driving much less entrepreneurial in a way. Drivers now are on specific pay schedules and cannot add to their income by efficiency or speeding or driving over a specific number of hours while their per mile does not increase to compensate. Of course the roads are safer for the drivers and for the rest of us but the price for the safety improvement is the dearth of drivers.
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