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DRIVERS' SHORTAGE * USA - Fleets fear HOS reduction
* Minnesota - Drivers wanted! Rise in freight drives trucker demand
Edina,MN,USA -MPR News, by Molly Bloom -September 3, 2010: -- The website of Universal Transportation Services says it pretty clearly: "Drivers Wanted!!" ... But the Minnesota-based trucking company, which has operations in Detroit, Minneapolis, Omaha and Chicago, can't seem to find them - even in a tough economy that has the nation's unemployment rate nearing 10 percent... Trucking industry representatives in Minnesota say the labor shortage was caused in part by the recession. Unable to find work, many truck drivers became discouraged and found work outside the industry, said John Hausladen, president of the Minnesota Trucking Association... Increased freight shipments in recent months also have trucking companies competing for a limited pool of drivers... Hausladen said that in March, one of his members received 70 applications for an open driving position. In August, a similar position only brought in four applicants... Minnesota is one of nine pilot states who are using these new federal guidelines, which will be implemented nationally in November... Under the new rules, violations committed by drivers will follow them no matter who they are working for. If companies or drivers have enough points against them, federal authorities will assess fines...* Texas - There are several issues weighing heavily on the minds of US fleet executives
Dallas,TX,USA -Truck News, by James Menzies -Aug 26, 2010: ... Trucking industry leaders at the Commercial Vehicle Outlook Conference this week in Dallas, seemed satisfied that freight volumes, and even trucking rates, were rebounding. What really concerned them was a growing sense that US hours-of-service will soon be reduced and that a driver shortage of unprecedented proportions will soon arrive... US hours-of-service rules have been under review since late last year... Fleet managers in attendance seemed resigned to the fact that allowable daily driving hours will be reduced by one or two hours as early as this fall and the 34-hour restart provision could even be stretched to 48 hours if lobbyists have their way... Losing two hours of driving time per day would effectively reduce truck productivity by 18-19%... Truckers cannot afford a productivity loss, especially when it's likely to coincide with a massive shortage of drivers. Consider that capacity is already tight and that CSA 2010 could make as many as 200,000 current drivers unemployable and you have a perfect storm brewing - a capacity crunch so severe that it could mean freight sits undelivered on shippers' docks... More, a reduction in legal working hours for truckers will also impact the average length of haul, Kretsinger noted... (Photo by standeyo: From an Indy trucker, "HOLLY NOTE: If you think the price of food is high now, wait till truckers quit rolling")* DC - Trucking jobs added in August
Washington,DC,USA -eTrucker -3 Sept 2010: -- While the overall U.S. economy lost jobs in August due to the wind-down of the 2010 Census, the for-hire trucking industry added 400 jobs during the month according to preliminary figures released Sept. 3 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics... However, because of a downward revision of July numbers in the latest report, the estimated payroll employment in trucking actually was 300 jobs fewer than what BLS reported on Aug. 6... Since the beginning of March, trucking companies have added 12,700 jobs, according to the preliminary numbers... Year over year, payroll employment was down in August from a year earlier by 0.9 percent. Total employment was 1.24 million – down 213,300, or 14.7 percent, from peak trucking employment in January 2007...
Labels: drivers' shortage, HOS debates
posted by Unknown @ 12:14 PM
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