Shippers and business persons in the US have been hearing about the truck driver shortage in the country for some time, and perhaps most commonly from Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), a trade industry association.
Supply Chain Digest Says...
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| Some wonder if the rapid rise in pay is just encouraging drivers to move from one carrier or shipper to another |
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Just recently in a presentation in Washington DC, Costello reiterated his warning about how bad it is right now and how much worse it could get, saying that back in 2018 the trucking industry was short about 60,800 truckers, a shortfall that is expected to grow to 105,000 drivers by 2023 unless recruitment efforts improve.
Costello also has said that the number of drivers in general freight in the US has dropped to 430,000, down from 465,000 people at the start of 2020, when freight volumes were below current levels.
And business and consumers are starting to feel the pinch, with the lack of drivers in a strong economy a big factor in the stockouts seen increasingly in grocery stores and other retailers, as well as in the B2B supply chain.
An interesting article this week in the UK’s Financial Times on the driver shortage quoted André LeBlanc, VP of operations at Petroleum Marketing Group, a fuel distributor based in Virginia, as saying that the gas stations it supplies had run out of some type of gasoline about 1,200 times since mid-June due to the driver shortage.
"You don’t get your toilet tissues and your eggs, that’s one thing. Gasoline stops — it shuts everything down,” LeBlanc told the Times.
The reality is the driver shortage is impacting countries across the globe, not just in the US.
The Times article notes that just recently, a lack of truck drivers was behind McDonald’s restaurants in the UK recently running out of milkshakes for a time, while builders in the country cannot get in needed supplies.
Across the globe, there aren’t enough truck drivers in Australia to reliably move iron ore mined there to a port for export. A trade group in the country recently said that the shortage of drivers for heavy goods freight had reached 20 percent, a substantial number that will clearly impact supply chains there.
Carriers and shippers with private fleets have been raising wages, signing bonuses and more in an attempt to recruit and retain drivers.
The FT reports, for example, that in the US, Walmart is offering an $8,000 signing bonus for some drivers, while British retailer John Lewis is planning to raise driver salaries by up to £5,000 a year, or about $6890. Wage rates in the UK for some categories of drivers have increased 21% to £36,800 ($74,000) in just under a year.
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But in a changing overall environment, raising driver pay may simply not be enough, even if it goes still higher.
 The ATA’s Costello in that same speed acknowledged that lifestyle issues – too much time on the road, not enough at home – may be the real issues, and one for which there is no easy solution.
In fact, some wonder if the rapid rise in pay is just encouraging drivers to move from one carrier or shipper to another, and is not bringing true additional drivers to the industry needed to make a dent in the big gap in drivers needed.
Other lifestyle related issue can also cause truck drivers to leave the profession, including poor treatment and long delays when delivering or picking up freight, and lack of available parking for rest periods in many areas. But those areas could in fact be reasonably easily addressed.
The Times article also says many drivers are leaving the industry due growing pressure for faster deliveries, driven by ecommerce.
As SCDigest recently reported, some carriers are looking at foreign drivers from countries like South Africa to potentially address the shortage – but the immigration process in the US and most other countries is slow, and seemingly the concept will not have any type of major impact (See ).
Over the past few years some have questioned just how real the driver shortage is, or that it could be simply solved by raising wages. Now, it appears the shortage is very real – and that significant pay hikes are not doing much to close the gap.
What are your thoughs on the driver shortage? Let us know your at the Feedback section below.
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