BUSINESS NEWS
6 • MARCH 2022
COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
GEORGE PLAVEN/CAPITAL PRESS
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Harold Worth, an instructor and assistant manager at Western Pacific Trucking School, guides Jason Nord during a driving exercise.
Driver shortage frustrates
trucking industry
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
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Jason Nord poked his head out the window of
a hulking Freightliner 18-wheeler as he practiced
backing the rig between rows of orange cones at the
Western Pacioc Truck School in Portland.
The exercise required the rookie driver to use
skillful maneuvers to coax the truck and its trailer
into a slot that simulated a warehouse loading
dock. One by one, students took their turn behind
the wheel while instructors on the ground ofered
guidance.
After previously working in construction, Nord,
41, said he can make more money as a trucker. He
enrolled in the school to get the hands-on experi-
ence and training necessary to apply for his com-
mercial driver9s license.
<Everybody knows we9re short truck drivers,=
Nord said of the industry.
For years, the trucking industry has sufered a
debilitating shortage of drivers. With the arrival of
the COVID-19 pandemic, that shortage has mush-
roomed into a crisis. The American Trucking Asso-
ciations estimates the driver shortage peaked this
year at 81,000 4 up from 51,000 pre-pandemic.
With fewer trucks on the road and port bottle-
necks plaguing the supply chain, agricultural pro-
ducers and exporters face spiraling transportation
costs.
Sara Arsenault, director of federal policy at the
California Farm Bureau, said exports that once cost
$2,500 to $5,000 per container to ship overseas are
now $12,000 to $30,000 per container. Increasingly,
agricultural exports are being left behind as ocean
carriers send empty containers back to Asia, where
they are loaded with more lucrative U.S. imports.
The setbacks are vexing, Arsenault said. In one
case, she said a producer was forced to make 12 trips
delivering a shipment of dried fruit from the Central
Valley to the Port of Oakland due to scheduling that
can change suddenly and without warning.
<Our producers are certainly feeling it,= Arse-
nault said. <We are having huge frustrations and
huge concerns.=
The truck driver shortage is a major component
of the larger crisis, Arsenault said. In addition to a
shortage of long-haul truckers traveling between
cities, there is a shortage of local delivery drivers
and even drivers who handle the chassis that shuttle
containers to and from West Coast ports.
Driver shortage
Demand for drivers is so high that some compa-
nies are ofering signing bonuses of up to $20,000
See Page 23