Demand has doubled

Freight carriers have always been in the price what it says on the https://freight-broker-training.us/, because today’s America owes much to truckers for its intensive pace of development. The transport sector is known to be the leader in the country’s economy. It annually contributes, according to various estimates, from 5 to 8% to the gross national product of the United States.

A solid line of eighteen-wheelers barrel down an interstate highway in Tennessee. Heat waves rising from the pavement give a nice shimmering effect to vehicles and trees behind the lead truck.

Now, the “post-COVID” statistics show that the demand for trucking has doubled: in the US, Europe, and China, there is a real shortage of this specialty. In the EU and CIS countries, 21% of job vacancies remain unfilled, which indicates that there are not enough truck drivers.

In America, in principle, they have always been in short supply, but the pandemic only increased the demand for specialists, since the suppliers of goods not only did not stop their activities, but also received a lot of applications for home delivery of goods. The surge in pent-up demand has taken companies by surprise in many ways and is now finding it increasingly difficult to satisfy the “growing appetites” of the consumer.

To keep product prices from rising, the government is planning to lower the bar on the minimum age required for this profession in order to attract as many young truck drivers as possible into the trucking industry.

The American Trucking Association and more than 100 logistics-related community organizations are pushing to lower the minimum age for truck drivers from 21 to 18, and Europe is already planning to move to the new standards from 2022.

In addition, according to Bloomberg, drivers began to be massively searched abroad. They are given concessions in the country’s immigration rules, since the restoration of the “post-COVID” American economy largely depends on them.

They are also offered tax-free pension bonuses, paid holidays, online training for newcomers, and government contributions to their health insurance.

There are private firms that promise unheard-of salaries to truckers: from 12 to 14 thousand dollars a week, just to find good specialists in the state. So did, for example, one fairly well-known company from Texas.

According to the publication “Actu Transport Logistique”, she explained her proposal by the lack of drivers and, thus, became known far beyond the borders of her country.