Thread: Mexican truck drivers may help solve US trucker shortage

Higher pay may help solve US trucker shortage

By Nick Carey Mon Jul 24, 1:34 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. trucking companies have been enjoying a boom period, but executives say it's never been harder to find people to do the driving.

In fact, the driver shortage has become so serious that some experts are proposing moves like raising pay by 30 percent or inviting workers from Mexico to do the job.

But even those solutions might not be enough to meet demand in the industry, which moves more than 80 percent of domestic freight cargo. Some analysts see shippers turning to the railroads, which need fewer staff and charge lower prices.

The problem for the trucking business is that young Americans are more focused on quality of life, executives say. Many people would rather work for less money than sit behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer on journeys that can keep them away from home for days on end.

"Business is very good right now," said Randy Marten, chief executive of refrigerated truck operator Marten Transport Ltd.. "But the personnel situation sucks."

Marten and other trucking executives said they had tried repeatedly to boost flagging driver recruitment with better benefits and incremental pay rises, but with little effect.

Although drivers at Mondovi, Wisconsin-based Marten Transport are among the highest-paid in the United States, the 60-year-old company finds it more difficult than ever to recruit them.

Like many U.S. trucking companies, Marten Transport has seen business increase rapidly in recent years. In its case, growth stemmed from a shift by U.S. consumers from canned goods to fresh foods, which must be refrigerated.

Many truck operators have also benefited as U.S. manufacturers outsourced production to developing nations like China -- and then needed to transport the imported products to warehouses across the United States.

But rather than enjoying the increased demand, trucking executives are worrying about how to meet it in light of the driver shortage.

HARD FOR THE LONG HAUL

According to a May 2005 study by Global Insight for the American Trucking Associations, the industry was short 20,000 drivers. The Boston-based consulting firm warned that as the U.S. population ages, that shortage could hit 111,000 by 2014.

Worst hit are truckload, or long-haul operators, which moved more than two-thirds of the estimated $610 billion in U.S. freight in 2003, according to the latest ATA figures.

Phoenix-based truckload company Swift Transportation Co. Inc. highlighted the impact of the driver shortage when it reported second-quarter results last week, saying it had nearly 500 trucks unassigned at the end of June.

Net income rose "despite an extremely tight driver market that is as challenging as I have seen in my career," CEO Robert Cunningham said in a statement.

Marten and others said that sooner or later trucking companies would have no choice but to raise salaries up to 30 percent to attract American drivers.

John Wiehoff, CEO of Minneapolis-based truck brokerage and logistics company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., said such a pay increase could make a difference.

"To be honest, it's a crappy living," he said, "and a big pay rise would not be unreasonable."

According to May 2005 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, truck drivers earned average annual wages of $35,460, but the top-paid in the industry made more than

$50,000.

Others in the industry say money is not the only problem.

A big pay rise won't solve the lifestyle issue, said Jeff Cook, vice president of Future Truckers of America, an Asheboro, North Carolina-based school that trains about 350 drivers a year.

"Long-haul driving is hard," said Cook, who spent nine years as a driver. "And when people weigh lifestyle against the dollar sign, lifestyle often wins."

Logistics expert John Vande Vate of Georgia Tech suggested allowing Mexican truck drivers access to the U.S. market as a way to alleviate the personnel shortage.

He added, however, that U.S. drivers would probably oppose such a measure as it could push pay levels down. With immigration a contentious issue in U.S. politics this year, Vande Vate said any moves to allow in Mexican drivers would be a long time coming.

Some analysts look to railroads to pick up any slack from long-haul trucking companies, which have been losing share to them over the past two years. Trains provide a cheaper alternative because they are more fuel-efficient and need fewer workers to haul more goods.

This has led trucking operators to partner up with the railroads with intermodal services, using standardized containers interchangeable between different modes of transport. Schneider National Inc., the largest private U.S. trucking company, in June launched such a service between Marion, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri, with railroads CSX Corp. and Kansas City Southern.

"Generation X and Generation Y don't want to haul goods long distance over the road," said CSX CEO Michael Ward. "We expect more business like this in the future."

Analyst Peter Smith of research firm Morningstar said a major pay rise for truckers, combined with high fuel prices, would push more goods off the roads and onto the rails.

"In the long run," he said, "railroads stand to gain even more from the driver shortage."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060724/us_ ... drivers_dc

And one company is getting many from India to come here to drive...

One can see how many leave truck driving and stay here.....or will they all be able to read English?

US DOT to Allow Mexican Carriers

7/26/2006 - Traffic World magazine
Angela Greiling Keane
Associate Editor

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association came out with guns blazing against a Mexican truck pilot program the Department of Transportation is finalizing.

OOIDA's Executive Vice President Todd Spencer called the program a "mistake." Acting Transportation Secretary Maria Cino said the program, which has not yet been unveiled, would allow about 100 Mexican motor carriers full access to United States roads beyond a limited commercial zone just north of the U.S. border.

Spencer said the program would jeopardize safety on U.S. roads and would lead to an influx of cheap Mexican labor.

"A move by the U.S. Department of Transportation to open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks puts the interest of foreign trade and cheap labor ahead of everything else, including highway safety, homeland security and the well being of hardworking Americans," Spencer said.

Whether and how to allow Mexican trucks on U.S. roads has been a point of contention since the North American Free Trade Agreement, which requires reciprocal open access among the United States, Canada and Mexico, was negotiated in the early 1990s.

http://www.trafficworld.com/newssection ... p?id=27326

Welcome FightingIrish-42! Thanks for the article...

"A move by the U.S. Department of Transportation to open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks puts the interest of foreign trade and cheap labor ahead of everything else, including highway safety, homeland security and the well being of hardworking Americans," Spencer said.

Finally, someone speaking some common sense! We need more, a lot more.

1. This story is a plant for the purposes of skewing the truth and letting in CHEAP DRIVERS & NASCO. period!

2. The only thing that these large companies give a hoot about is the bottom line.........GREENBACKS. PROFIT.
They want these borders opened one way or the other and they want gazzilions of tons of Chinese merchandise to move up the NASCO corridor driven by cheap teamsters. That is where the NEW PROFIT INCREASE lies.

FightingIrish-42,
welcome to ALIPAC

FIGHTING IRISH.........WELCOME!

Great news you posted up there, lol!!

Keep the info coming It surely helps us to get a better picture.

Personally, I would like to see more freight shipped by rail. Less trucks on the roads might be a good thing.

Also, regarding allowing Mexican trucks on our highways I've always wondered: What happens when they get in an accident with US citizens? Do they have insurance? What about the trucks themselves - are they well maintained? What about pollution standards, do they meet our standards? Are the drivers certified to drive commercial trucks on our roadways? The whole idea just seems incredibly stupid to me!

Originally Posted by patbrunz

Personally, I would like to see more freight shipped by rail. Less trucks on the roads might be a good thing.

Also, regarding allowing Mexican trucks on our highways I've always wondered: What happens when they get in an accident with US citizens? Do they have insurance? What about the trucks themselves - are they well maintained? What about pollution standards, do they meet our standards? Are the drivers certified to drive commercial trucks on our roadways? The whole idea just seems incredibly stupid to me!

Pat
Mex trucks have no restrictions as our American truckers. That was a new 'agreement' signed by bush, I believe, several years ago when they opened the roads to the mex truckers.

They don't even have to be INSPECTED! I'm fuzzy on the dates, etc. but the details of that move are etched in my mind.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Pat
Mex trucks have no restrictions as our American truckers. That was a new 'agreement' signed by bush, I believe, several years ago when they opened the roads to the mex truckers.

They don't even have to be INSPECTED! I'm fuzzy on the dates, etc. but the details of that move are etched in my mind.

That figures! Why aren't the environmentalists howling about how those dirty uninspected trucks are going to add to our polluted air? What about the insurance industry? Won't the claims go up if uninsured or underinsured truck drivers start smashing into US citizens' vehicles? What about our roads? If the trucks are too heavy, won't they wreck our roads? What are the licensing requirements for Mexican truck drivers? Do we want some unqualified driver driving along in some 80,000 big rig doing 80mph on the road with us?