The Road Transport Forum (RTF) has predicted the national driver shortage will only get worse in 2015.
RTF chief executive Ken Shirley told the Timaru Herald that the shortage showed “no sign at all” of coming to an end this year.
“It’s getting worse. We’re facing a situation now where trucks are parked up. It just slows everything down,” says Shirley.
Geraldine-based rural transport and agricultural contracting company, Woodleys, told the Timaru Herald that trucks are constantly off the road because it was short-staffed.
Woodleys transport general manager Tom Gatrell says that he too could not see the driver shortage easing. The company had some older drivers putting their hands up for work, but few young recruits were coming through.
“No, I can’t see it changing in the short term,” he says. “I think the biggest problem now is it takes these young guys too long to get their licence.”
Shirley feels any possible improvements to the heavy licensing system, which were being considered in a Ministry of Transport review, could improve driver numbers but he does not expect possible changes to be implemented until 2017.
The RTF says the truck driver profession’s exclusion from the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employments immediate skills shortage list is of more concern.
In 2014 the ministry said the industry could do more to develop a domestics supply of drivers, but Shirley says there is an immediate need for drivers who had at least five years experience behind the wheel of a heavy vehicle.
“Its the biggest issue facing our industry today. Because of the lead-in time I can’t understand why we’re off the skills shortage list,” he says.
Shirley says the industry will keep chipping away at working with the various ministries to address the driver shortage but in the mean time the RTF will look at solutions related to industry training and will distribute its magazines through schools.
“Both are longterm solutions, at the end of the day we need to compete in the marketplace labour-wise,” says Shirley.
