Dairy Processing - September 2021 - 56

SUPPLY CHAIN
" Waivers from agencies such as the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration were crucial in helping ensure truck
drivers could continue delivering products vital to the health and
well-being of Americans, " Viohl said. Rollouts for such things as
hours-of-service waivers and extensions for expiring licenses and
permits were extremely helpful, but federal and state agencies
were challenged in implementing these extensions.
" Although we still face significant hurdles in returning to a
pre-pandemic 'normal,' it is not too soon to start preparing for
future crises, " Viohl said. " While it's impossible to predict what
that might look like, these past ... months have equipped us with
invaluable knowledge in planning for the unknown. "
ONGOING CHALLENGES
Prior to the pandemic, the trucking industry as a whole was
already facing a driver shortage. The effects of COVID-19 only
exacerbated the problem.
" This is uncharted territory - we just didn't know it was
going to happen, " said Bob Costello, chief economist and senior
vice president with the American Trucking Associations (ATA),
" I get emails almost daily on fleets
announcing that they're raising pay,
sign-on bonuses ... all sorts of stuff
to try to attract and retain drivers. "
Bob Costello, chief economist and senior vice president with the
American Trucking Associations (ATA)
Arlington, Va., on a recent episode of the Dairy Download
podcast, produced by the International Dairy Food Association
(IDFA). " If you go back to April and May (2021), the driver
shortage went from roughly 62,000 in 2019 to probably zero for
a couple of months and then it came rip roaring back. And while
we haven't quanified it since then - talking to my fleets, talking to
my members - it is as bad as ever. "
Economists with ATA predict a shortage of more than 100,000
drivers nationwide by 2023.
" We have the structural issues and then we have the cyclical
issues with the driver shortage and both are important, " Costello
said. " The structural issues from the driver shortage stem from
demographics and that is both gender and age. If you go to a
truck driver training school and you look at the average person
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Dairy Processing - September 2021

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