The shortage of available truck drivers is a real problem, say respondents to a recent survey of fleet managers. According to the a fleet sentiment report conducted by CK Commercial Vehicle Research, 40% of fleets are currently affected by a driver shortage, and another 25% believe the shortage will impact their ability to grow in the future.
Of those reporting an immediate concern, three quarters need drivers to fill current vacant seats, 63% say it is limiting their ability to add capacity and 42% are changing the way they deploy their fleet, such as targeting more regional and local freight opportunities instead of long haul loads.
“Freight demand is good among the majority of fleets that report to us, but some could definitely haul more if they could find good drivers,” says Chris Kemmer, CKCVR’s founder. “Even for those that have a full complement of drivers now there is concern that this scarce resource will likely impact their future growth potential.”
CKCVR regularly polls a group of small, medium and large for-hire, private and government fleet operators about their equipment purchasing plans and overall fleet environment.
