Global driver shortage reaching "tipping point"

Virtually every haulier we speak to at the moment is reporting growing driver shortages at a level unseen since the pandemic, the current situation is a culmination of multiple issues that have been building for years, not least of which is related to the UK’s new relationship with the EU.

The three pillars which are often cited as the reason for a shortage are:

· The way drivers are treated in general

· Pay

· Unsociable and inflexible lifestyle

Whilst it’s generally true that the highly specialised, highly trained, highly paid sectors such as tankers are much less affected, for the general market mere financial increases in per hour rates aren’t fixing the problem, the wider issues run deeper. The focus on price above all else has been imposed on the industry pretty much as a given by shippers for decades, which has led to much short termism amongst the larger players that take the larger contracts, and an erosion of already thin margins for the smaller hauliers, thereby increasing supply chain vulnerability and risk for those same shippers as haulage capacity shrinks.

Driver recruitment remains a problem that is shared around the world at various levels, in Ireland are reports that driver shortages are rapidly reaching a tipping point, ahead of the winter peak season, which could lead to shortages and price rises. Many operators in Ireland have relied increasingly on drivers from the EU for many years, initially this may have been for economic reasons, and latterly out of sheer necessity because an entire generation of home grown potential young drivers have bypassed the transport industry. The few young drivers who could have entered the industry are reportedly leaving to work as drivers in New Zealand and Australia leaving Irish employers trying to recruit drivers from as far as South Africa, something that is being hampered by “chronic bureaucracy “ at government level, resulting in delays of up to twelve months in hiring drivers from around the world.

The IRU reports that across 36 countries, which together account for some 70% of global GDP, there are 3.6 million truck driver positions unfilled, with the underlying structural demographics trend showing an increasing gap between younger and older drivers. Young drivers under 25 make up just 6.5% of the total driver workforce, whereas the share of drivers who are over 55 is 31.6%. Over the next 5 years it is

estimated that 3.4 million truck drivers will be retiring out of the transport industry, the implications indicate that a tipping point will be reached in the next decade according to the IRU.

Could technology hold the solution? Some basic operational areas could be addressed before we get to autonomous trucks! The growth of e commerce is arguably increasing pressure on the industry, distribution centres with 15-minute delivery windows and then having vehicles on site waiting for several hours hasn’t disappeared.