“It’s the worst we’ve ever seen,” Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Associations, said of the current driver shortage.
The shortage — Costello estimates it at nearly 48,000 drivers, the great bulk of them in the long-haul, truckload sector — is being felt industrywide.
Companies such as Green Bay’s Schneider, one of the country’s largest carriers, are working to make schedules more predictable for over-the-road drivers. Marshfield’s Roehl Transport lets them bring along a dog or cat under its new Pet Passport Program. Kreilkamp Trucking, in Allenton, has begun doing its own driver training.
“Experienced drivers are not out there, so we have to make them,” President Tim Kreilkamp said.
Most significantly, the shortage has been driving up pay. Pay rates at Schneider have risen 4% to 10% over the last couple of years, Chief Operating Officer Mark Rourke said.
Kreilkamp, which says its drivers average $55,000 to $65,000 a year, has raised pay, too, and probably will raise it again, Tim Kreilkamp said.
Read more at: Truck Drive Shortage
