Page 22 - ATR 3 2014 web

more drivers, more Trucks

Industry will need both to cope with increasing demand

By steve Brawner trucking will increase from its cur- stores and our gas stations and every-
Contributing Writer rent 67 percent to 70.9 percent. Rail thing else,” she said.
intermodal will gain market share, but At the same time fleets are adding
Does the trucking industry have only from 1.2 percent to 1.7 percent. truck capacity, they’ll also need to add
too few drivers or too many trucks? Far from being a threat, it will serve as drivers – and that will be a challenge,
Actually, it needs more of both. a complement to trucking. Rail carload because the supply of drivers isn’t keep-
That was the message presented and pipeline will lose marketshare, ing up with demand. In fact, the short-
by Rebecca Brewster, president and while air transportation will remain at age is expected to widen to a potential
chief operating officer of the American .1 percent of the market. shortfall of 239,000 drivers by 2022,
Transportation Research Institute In an interview, Brewster said today when the industry will need close to 2
(ATRI), at the Arkansas Trucking there are fewer types of freight hauls million of them. An average of 96,178
Association’s annual conference. where trucks and rail compete. In most drivers will be needed each year over the
Brewster forecast good times ahead cases, trucks remain the only viable next 10 years because of retirements,
for the trucking industry. Truck tonnage option. other departures and industry growth.
will increase nearly 30 percent by 2024, “There is a length of haul where That will be difficult to achieve with an
requiring the industry to add more than financially it does not make sense to aging driver workforce.
700,000 Class 8 trucks. put it on the rail, and there are com- This year, 12 million Americans fall
Other forms of transportation will modities that simply do not make sense between the ages of 20 and 24, and yet
also see gains, but not enough to alter to put on rail because of the time sen- that age group describes only 3.8 per-
the prediction that trucks will continue sitivity of them – and most importantly cent of truck drivers. Meanwhile 31.2
to haul the bulk of the nation’s freight. because you and I don’t have train
In fact, as a percentage of tonnage, tracks pulling up behind our grocery  30

22 ArkAnsAs truckinG report | issue 3 2014