Haulage companies are offering six-figure salaries and $15,000 sign-on bonuses while struggling to attract 80,000 new drivers who are needed to relieve the nation’s supply crisis.
But industry experts said more drivers won’t alleviate the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach backlog, where an empty shipping container fiasco is preventing trucks from moving product to consumers.
Facing an exodus of 600,000 retiring truckers by 2028, the transportation industry is desperate to recruit more people and estimates that 80,000 new hires are needed this year to offset attrition and clear a backed-up supply chain.
‘I can tell you that pretty much every single one of our members – no matter what part of the industry they’re in – is looking for drivers,’ Chris Shimoda, senior vice president of government affairs at the California Trucking Association, told DailyMail.com.
‘They are raising pay across the board, introducing things like signing and retention bonuses, trying to provide more local driving opportunities so that the drivers can be home with their families at night, but it's been a real struggle for several years.’
Companies are offering lucrative sign-on and retention bonuses in an attempt to lure more people into the truck driving industry, which seeks to hire 80,000 more drivers this year
Lorries laden with empty shipping containers are now parking in residential neighborhoods, such as Wilmington in California, because there is no space at ports
Local residents complain that the trucks are blocking their driveways after being abandoned by the drivers
The supply chain crisis has seen a backlog of containers build up at ports meaning that empty ones can't be returned because there is no room for them
US Foods, seeking a Northern Californian with a commercial driver’s license (CDL), is offering a $15,000 sign-up bonus and a $1,000 quarterly bonus to candidates willing to work for $38.50 an hour.
And last June, JK Moving Services said it would guarantee its qualified drivers a salary of at least $100,000 as ‘market demands grow and the pool of qualified candidates shrinks.’
It’s all happening as shipping backlogs delay cripple the supply chain, with Christmas toys and holiday goodies among the items stranded in the Pacific as freightliners queue for weeks to unload cargo.
Truck drivers’ wages have spiked by about 20 percent as companies work to lure newcomers into the industry, Shimoda said.
Some trucking companies are offering six-figure salaries to persuade prospective hires during a time when demand outweighs supply and California's biggest ports are backed up
Chris Shimoda, a California Trucking Association exec, CDLs are 'worth their weight in gold'
‘The industry is really using every tool at their disposal to try to get drivers in the door and to get them to stay,’ he said. ‘It's a driver’s world right now. If you have a commercial driver's license, it's worth its weight in gold right now.
‘It's a good time to have a have a CDL.’
But more drivers won’t solve all the transportation industry’s problems at the embattled Ports of Long Angeles and Long Beach, experts said.
Matt Schrap, chief executive of the Harbor Trucking Association, said thousands of empty containers are creating a nightmare for drivers trying to move product.
There's no truck driver shortage in the Long Beach and Los Angeles areas, where a steady stream of transports is coming and going to keep the movement of commerce flowing
But Matt Schrap, chief executive of the Harbor Trucking Association, said thousands of empty containers are creating a nightmare for drivers
Right now, the mass congestion of empty containers is monopolizing space in nearby truck lots, blocking filled containers from getting moved, and crippling efficiency.
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