ATA Says Truckload Turnover Stuck at Historically High Levels
Truckload driver-turnover rates remains stuck at historically high levels for fleets of all sizes, American Trucking Associations reported.
The annualized rate in the fourth quarter was 96% for carriers with revenue of $30 million and above and 95% for fleets below that level. The latest reading was a decline of 1 percentage point for larger fleets and a rise of 1 percentage point for smaller carriers, both on a sequential basis.
“We’re seeing the turnover gap between small and large carriers narrow to levels we haven’t experienced in some time,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. “This is likely the result of larger fleets raising pay, offering bonuses and attracting more and more drivers from smaller fleets to fill seats.”
On a year-over-year basis, the small fleets’ churn jumped from 79% while the larger fleets showed a smaller increase from 91%.
“These figures show us that the driver shortage, which we now estimate to be between 35,000 and 40,000 drivers, is getting more pervasive in the truckload sector,” Costello said.
On a full-year basis, larger fleets’ churn was 95%, a drop of 1 percentage point, but smaller fleets climbed 11 points to 90%. The five-point gap is the smallest between the fleet sizes since 2000, ATA said.
“Due to growing freight volumes, regulatory pressures and normal attrition, we expect the problem to get worse in the near-term as the industry works to find solutions to the shortage,” the ATA official added.
At less-than-truckload carriers, the rate was 10%, down 3 percentage points from the third quarter. The full-year rate was 11% in both 2014 and 2013.
