Had you told Australian Trucking Association CEO David Smith five years ago that he'd be parking his own trucks because of a lack of quality drivers, he admits he'd have laughed.The trucking industry is battling heavy pressures.
But for truck operators, fuel is their biggest seed cost when it comes to running a business, amplifying the importance of the ongoing increase.Additionally, many truck businesses are unable to pass those higher costs on, being locked into contracts or agreements that leave them footing the bigger bills and essentially getting less reimbursement for the same service.
While there are new people joining the industry, they're coming through at too slow a clip to replace the trained, quality workers who are leaving."There's just been this continued pressure to supply the service, through floods, through COVID, and it amounts to too much." Kaine said for the past decade, the federal government had overseen worsening supply chain pressures and been "hopelessly inactive"."There is currently no federal system to hold wealthy retailers, manufacturers and oil companies to account for the squeeze on transport," he said.