Back in December of last year we wrote, “A Closer Look at Truckers and Driver Shortages” and nearly one year later, the problem hasn’t gone away. The situation is so bad in Texas that companies are looking to recruit foreigners to fill the roles. From FreightWaves:
A lack of available workers willing to drive trucks has become so severe in South Texas that fleets are looking to foreign operators to fill employment gaps, officials said. ..
“We are connecting the drivers in the Dominican Republic with companies here in the U.S.,” Ricardo Colmenter, director at Entra Business Solutions, told FreightWaves. “The idea is to have a robust database of drivers that we prescreen and for companies here in the U.S. to find in that database the right person for their workforce.”
Freightwaves.com
As we often reference, there are 40 to 60 million baby boomers retiring over the next 8 years and there are some estimates that the trucker shortage may climb to 160,000 or higher by 2030. From Forbes:
The American Trucking Association estimates that the 2021 driver shortage capped at 80,000 drivers. According to experts, if this current trend continues, the trucking industry could need more than 160,000 drivers by 2030.
Forbes.com
The irony is Texas governor Abbott has been busy bussing Venezuelan refugees to places like Chicago or New York when he should be shipping them to trucking training centers in Texas to fill the gap.
In any event, this creates potential opportunities for profit. If enough truckers can’t be found, companies will turn to rail and specialty transport to fill the need. We have been researching rail stocks and they are a little over priced right now but we will pounce when they correct.
We’ll keep you posted but in the meantime, stay tuned and stay solvent…