Driver Shortage Limiting Hauling Capacity, Potential Growth

In its Q3 2011 Fleet Sentiment Report, CK Commercial Vehicle Research—an organization that regularly polls a group of small, medium, and large for-hire, private, and government fleet operators to determine their purchasing plans, as well as the overall condition of their businesses—released figures indicating that 40 percent of fleets reporting to the organization are experiencing a driver shortage. Additionally, 25 percent of the polled fleets indicated that they believe that this shortage will have a negative impact on future growth.

Of those fleets that reported a driver shortage, 75 percent have an immediate need for drivers to fill vacant seats, 63 percent reported an inability to add capacity, and 42 percent have changed the way that they deploy their fleets (such as reducing their number of long hauls and focusing instead on regional and local freight opportunities).

Regarding the shortage, CKCVR’s founder, Chris Kemmer, remarked, “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. 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.”

The Q3 2011 Fleet Sentiment Buying Index, which measures of the number of motor carriers planning to add power units and trailers to their fleets within the next three months, rose to 104.3. This increase is primarily due to a large number of fleets planning trailer orders. The FSR Buying Index Table can be accessed at http://www.ckcvr.com/.