Driver Shortage, Truck Parking in New Resiliency Definition
“We strive for sustainable supply chains,” Caitlin Raymond, director of FHWA’s Office of Freight Management and Operations, said at a Jan. 11 workshop at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting here. “That’s really what this is about.l”
She added, “We have moved . . . beyond a singular focus on protection of infrastructure to this broader area of resiliency.”
The freight office is exploring ways to guide trucking and government agencies in making the industry more resilient to such events as weather emergencies, economic swings and workforce problems that arise from poor planning, Raymond said.
She was not the only speaker at TRB this year talking about how the driver shortage could affect the movement of goods and the resiliency of the nation’s supply chain.
American Trucking Associations Second Vice Chairman Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express in Dayton, Ohio, said at a Jan. 12 session that trucking needs 96,178 new drivers each year over the next 10 years.
“The driver shortage is as bad as it’s ever been,” Burch said. “We have a turnover rate that is just over 100%. Try running a manufacturing company that way.”
The shortage is attributable to what he called a perfect storm: an aging workforce, an upturn in the economy that offers drivers other job opportunities and regulatory changes that present “stumbling blocks” for the industry as it tries to boost driver ranks.
Among the regulatory efforts that Burch said are affecting the driver supply are mandated electronic logging devices, which he said some drivers refuse to use.
Some obese drivers may refuse the sleep apnea testing and treatment that are being advanced by federal regulators, he said, and new hours-of-service rules cut into trucking’s productivity and forced the industry to utilize more trucks and drivers to carry the same amount of freight.
Raymond noted in her presentation that the recent economic downturn drove some small carriers out of business that might otherwise be carrying freight now.
To make the supply chain more resilient in emergencies, such as Superstorm Sandy, state agencies need to provide reliable detour and closure information as well as parking for truckers, she said.
“If you’re involved at all in plans for resiliency, make sure you take a look at truck-parking capacity in your areas,” she told transportation planners.
FHWA will unveil a truck-parking supply study in the next few months, she said.
In emergencies, transportation agencies, largely in states, must be nimble enough to quickly issue permits and waivers to truckers aiding in relief efforts, debris removal and reconstruction, she said.
The first resiliency efforts by the federal government centered on terrorist threats and climate change, several speakers noted.
However, the federal government has since expanded that effort to such things as cybersecurity and supply chains, they said.
