Shortage of truck Drivers
Now a Shortage of trucks. Got to wonder what is going on.
quote:Anyone ordering a new heavy-duty truck this summer will have wait until sometime next year to get it, assuming strained manufacturing supply chains hold together.
An unprecedented run of orders for big rigs has pushed the backlog at truck factories to nine months, according to industry analysts, the largest since early 2006, when truckers stocked up to get vehicles in place before tougher environmental restrictions would take effect. Typically the backlog is about five months for the truck industry?s manufacturers, analysts said.
?It is longer than it should be,? said Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing for Volvo AB?s North America operation, where Class 8 truck orders this year soared to 25,000 from 11,000 during the first six months of 2017. ?Of course we are not alone in this situation,? he said. ?Everyone is in the same boat.?
North American freight-haulers ordered more than 300,000 Class 8 trucks in the first seven months of this year and are on track to order a record 450,000 of the heavy-duty vehicles for the full year, according to ACT Research. That would be the largest book since 2004, when orders reached 390,000, according to analysts.
In July, North American fleets ordered more than 52,000 trucks, an all-time monthly record.
Freight-hauling fleets are trying to keep up with swelling demand in a robust U.S. economy even as they say they face difficulty finding drivers. New trucks are one recruiting tool, and the new vehicles also get better fuel mileage?an attractive feature for fleets as other costs are rising.
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The orders are coming at a rapid pace as more U.S. companies, from construction equipment makers to retailers, say rising transportation costs and tight truck capacity are crimping their ability to grow and slicing into profit margins. Cass Information Systems Inc., which processes freight payments, says its monthly index of U.S. trucking costs rose more than 10% in July, the first double-digit year-over-year increase in the 13 years of the measure.
It may be months before trucking capacity scales up enough to meet the growing shipping demand. Many of the new trucks are aimed at replacing older vehicles, trucking companies say, and production still lags far behind orders. Manufacturers delivered 30,000 new vehicles in June, ACT said, but factories are still catching up after trouble earlier in the year getting the parts they needed to keep up with demand.
?There?s basically a shortage of trucks right now because of supply-chain issues,? said Don Ake, an analyst with research group FTR. Manufacturers ?can?t build trucks fast enough because their suppliers can?t keep up.?
Navistar International Corp., Daimler AG and Volvo, along with engine-maker Cummins Inc., have said they faced supply-chain problems earlier this year as the broader manufacturing sector coped with delays in supplier deliveries to factories. ?It doesn?t matter if it?s one tiny screw or one tiny hose, if it?s missing or late, you can?t complete the truck,? said Volvo?s Mr. Koeck.
Any delays at one supplier can ripple across the business, companies say, because companies often build certain parts for several different truck manufacturers. And companies say the low national unemployment rate makes it tougher to fill vacant jobs.
?The challenge was finding the labor, I suppose the next challenge is keeping the labor,? said Kenny Vieth, an analyst with ACT.
Manufacturers say their suppliers have hired the necessary staff and now are pushing through parts at a faster pace. Volvo Trucks North America delivered 15,658 vehicles through June, up 71% from its deliveries in the first half of 2017.
?With the strong demand and the corresponding increases in production levels, the entire industry has been faced with supply constraints and pressure on delivery timing,? Jeff Allen, senior vice president of operations and specialty vehicles at Daimler Trucks North America, said in an emailed statement. ?Recently we have begun seeing these constraints lifting and an overall improvement of the situation.?
Still, Mr. Ake said maintaining the high pace of production across all factories will remain a challenge. ?The situation is week to week,? he said.
Michael Cancelliere, president of Navistar?s truck and parts division, says the company has been meeting with customers and with suppliers to make sure they are getting the components they need to keep assembly lines moving.
?The system gets somewhat stressed when you?re dealing with the capacity we?re dealing with,? Mr. Cancelliere said. ?That?s forced us to get better.?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/get-in-line-backlog-for-big-rigs-stretches-to-2019/ar-BBM2SFd?li=BBnbfcN
Where I work we can order from China and get it faster than if we ordered from a American Company.
What is really weird is things we still do get from China the price has been lowered while things we buy in the USA price is still increasing.
quote:Anyone ordering a new heavy-duty truck this summer will have wait until sometime next year to get it, assuming strained manufacturing supply chains hold together.
An unprecedented run of orders for big rigs has pushed the backlog at truck factories to nine months, according to industry analysts, the largest since early 2006, when truckers stocked up to get vehicles in place before tougher environmental restrictions would take effect. Typically the backlog is about five months for the truck industry?s manufacturers, analysts said.
?It is longer than it should be,? said Magnus Koeck, vice president of marketing for Volvo AB?s North America operation, where Class 8 truck orders this year soared to 25,000 from 11,000 during the first six months of 2017. ?Of course we are not alone in this situation,? he said. ?Everyone is in the same boat.?
North American freight-haulers ordered more than 300,000 Class 8 trucks in the first seven months of this year and are on track to order a record 450,000 of the heavy-duty vehicles for the full year, according to ACT Research. That would be the largest book since 2004, when orders reached 390,000, according to analysts.
In July, North American fleets ordered more than 52,000 trucks, an all-time monthly record.
Freight-hauling fleets are trying to keep up with swelling demand in a robust U.S. economy even as they say they face difficulty finding drivers. New trucks are one recruiting tool, and the new vehicles also get better fuel mileage?an attractive feature for fleets as other costs are rising.
Get news and analysis on politics, policy, national security and more, delivered right to your inbox
The orders are coming at a rapid pace as more U.S. companies, from construction equipment makers to retailers, say rising transportation costs and tight truck capacity are crimping their ability to grow and slicing into profit margins. Cass Information Systems Inc., which processes freight payments, says its monthly index of U.S. trucking costs rose more than 10% in July, the first double-digit year-over-year increase in the 13 years of the measure.
It may be months before trucking capacity scales up enough to meet the growing shipping demand. Many of the new trucks are aimed at replacing older vehicles, trucking companies say, and production still lags far behind orders. Manufacturers delivered 30,000 new vehicles in June, ACT said, but factories are still catching up after trouble earlier in the year getting the parts they needed to keep up with demand.
?There?s basically a shortage of trucks right now because of supply-chain issues,? said Don Ake, an analyst with research group FTR. Manufacturers ?can?t build trucks fast enough because their suppliers can?t keep up.?
Navistar International Corp., Daimler AG and Volvo, along with engine-maker Cummins Inc., have said they faced supply-chain problems earlier this year as the broader manufacturing sector coped with delays in supplier deliveries to factories. ?It doesn?t matter if it?s one tiny screw or one tiny hose, if it?s missing or late, you can?t complete the truck,? said Volvo?s Mr. Koeck.
Any delays at one supplier can ripple across the business, companies say, because companies often build certain parts for several different truck manufacturers. And companies say the low national unemployment rate makes it tougher to fill vacant jobs.
?The challenge was finding the labor, I suppose the next challenge is keeping the labor,? said Kenny Vieth, an analyst with ACT.
Manufacturers say their suppliers have hired the necessary staff and now are pushing through parts at a faster pace. Volvo Trucks North America delivered 15,658 vehicles through June, up 71% from its deliveries in the first half of 2017.
?With the strong demand and the corresponding increases in production levels, the entire industry has been faced with supply constraints and pressure on delivery timing,? Jeff Allen, senior vice president of operations and specialty vehicles at Daimler Trucks North America, said in an emailed statement. ?Recently we have begun seeing these constraints lifting and an overall improvement of the situation.?
Still, Mr. Ake said maintaining the high pace of production across all factories will remain a challenge. ?The situation is week to week,? he said.
Michael Cancelliere, president of Navistar?s truck and parts division, says the company has been meeting with customers and with suppliers to make sure they are getting the components they need to keep assembly lines moving.
?The system gets somewhat stressed when you?re dealing with the capacity we?re dealing with,? Mr. Cancelliere said. ?That?s forced us to get better.?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/get-in-line-backlog-for-big-rigs-stretches-to-2019/ar-BBM2SFd?li=BBnbfcN
Where I work we can order from China and get it faster than if we ordered from a American Company.
What is really weird is things we still do get from China the price has been lowered while things we buy in the USA price is still increasing.
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Well it must Trump's fault somehow.
I mean how can this much increased demand and production and employment in any way indicate a strong or growing economy or dollar or American trade concerns???
Wait for it - I am certain it's coming including from several folks here...
Mike0 -
quote:Originally posted by mrmike08075
Well it must Trump's fault somehow.
I mean how can this much increased demand and production and employment in any way indicate a strong or growing economy or dollar or American trade concerns???
Wait for it - I am certain it's coming including from several folks here...
Mike
I will say even if we have some problems getting supplies so far we are still meeting demand. And we are on pace to have one of our better years.0 -
That damn Trump is making all of us lazy, status quo, don't rock the boat, feet draggers look bad!! He wants the hard workers, innovators, and determined to rise to the top! It's not fair! 0 -
BarZingA should be along soon to let you know it is Trump, Republcans, racists and bigots fault!
And it will be a long tirade with many quotes and news copies he found somewhere in the new york times and Rachel madcow.
Thats my guess0 -
We live not very far from Dayton OH. That is where I-70 and I-75 cross. Almost every day there is at least 1 big rig in an accident in that area. Most are due to loss of control, in other words going too fast for conditions or especially on the ramps on and off the interstates.
My theory is that they are replacing wrecked trucks. [:0]0 -
I am a bit removed from it now by sometime from the cancer stuff...
But I do remember when all these drivers from Ghana and the ivory Coast showed up - when so many of these bad truck driving schools started handing anybody a commercial license
I noticed things going south a few years ago
And before that when most of the small independent drivers or family owned companies were forced out
Jmho
Mike0 -
All that online ordering is creating more driver jobs everyday.
And that's just by my wife.[:D]
MAGA too eh barf?0 -
been letting the messican junk trucks run unimpeded on AMERICAN highways for years....highway patrols ignoring them 0 -
There is no shortage of truckdrivers, the ATA has been screaming this since the 90s. Hell there was an ATA dep on Fox News two weeks ago crying about this and he even admitted that if they don?t get more drivers they will have to raise wages.
What the ATA wants is to flood the industry with as many drivers as they can get and this keep wages down. They are using this to pressure the FMCSA to allow 18 year olds to run interstate, they are restricted to intrastate right now.
Do you know that YOU the taxpayer afe paying for trucking school for every person they get off of welfare or unemployment even though the company contracts new drivers to rrpay for COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOL?
The ATA and the carriers it represents say DRIVER SHORTAGE only so they can become bigger and bigger. They use the ATA to pressure the FMCSA who then brainwashes the public into believing that we need mkfe refulation but then those regulations make it harder to do the job so now they need more drivers.
There are more rookies out here with less than a years experaince then you can count, they flood the schools with mental midgets then turn them loose in trucks owner by Seift, Knight, CR England, Prime, Schnieder amd many others. As long as these companies are allowed to put idiots behind the wheel with low pay they make money.
Don?t buy into this, this is dirty pool by one of he most corrupt indistries out there, an indiatry that allows the ATA to use law to achieve what they cannot do through normal business practice. We are still for the most part running for wages and rates from the 80s and 90s, this is the ATA at work keeping revenue down and making money on volume. There have been a lot of small companies dissapear in the last 10 years as these mega carriers get bigger and bigger. Nothing but a scam ran by the ATA and FMCSA, friggin mob rule.0 -
quote:Originally posted by mrmike08075
I am a bit removed from it now by sometime from the cancer stuff...
But I do remember when all these drivers from Ghana and the ivory Coast showed up - when so many of these bad truck driving schools started handing anybody a commercial license
I noticed things going south a few years ago
And before that when most of the small independent drivers or family owned companies were forced out
Jmho
Mike
You would not believe the amount of Eastern European drivers that are here now(Russians) along with Middle Eastern drivers. It?s getting harder and harder to find english speaking drivers out here, cheap labor.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Big Sky Redneck
There is no shortage of truckdrivers, the ATA has been screaming this since the 90s. Hell there was an ATA dep on Fox News two weeks ago crying about this and he even admitted that if they don?t get more drivers they will have to raise wages.
What the ATA wants is to flood the industry with as many drivers as they can get and this keep wages down. They are using this to pressure the FMCSA to allow 18 year olds to run interstate, they are restricted to intrastate right now.
Do you know that YOU the taxpayer afe paying for trucking school for every person they get off of welfare or unemployment even though the company contracts new drivers to rrpay for COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOL?
The ATA and the carriers it represents say DRIVER SHORTAGE only so they can become bigger and bigger. They use the ATA to pressure the FMCSA who then brainwashes the public into believing that we need mkfe refulation but then those regulations make it harder to do the job so now they need more drivers.
There are more rookies out here with less than a years experaince then you can count, they flood the schools with mental midgets then turn them loose in trucks owner by Seift, Knight, CR England, Prime, Schnieder amd many others. As long as these companies are allowed to put idiots behind the wheel with low pay they make money.
Don?t buy into this, this is dirty pool by one of he most corrupt indistries out there, an indiatry that allows the ATA to use law to achieve what they cannot do through normal business practice. We are still for the most part running for wages and rates from the 80s and 90s, this is the ATA at work keeping revenue down and making money on volume. There have been a lot of small companies dissapear in the last 10 years as these mega carriers get bigger and bigger. Nothing but a scam ran by the ATA and FMCSA, friggin mob rule.
101% on point!
Corporate greed rules.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Big Sky Redneck
There is no shortage of truckdrivers, the ATA has been screaming this since the 90s. Hell there was an ATA dep on Fox News two weeks ago crying about this and he even admitted that if they don?t get more drivers they will have to raise wages.
What the ATA wants is to flood the industry with as many drivers as they can get and this keep wages down. They are using this to pressure the FMCSA to allow 18 year olds to run interstate, they are restricted to intrastate right now.
Do you know that YOU the taxpayer afe paying for trucking school for every person they get off of welfare or unemployment even though the company contracts new drivers to rrpay for COMPANY SPONSORED SCHOOL?
The ATA and the carriers it represents say DRIVER SHORTAGE only so they can become bigger and bigger. They use the ATA to pressure the FMCSA who then brainwashes the public into believing that we need mkfe refulation but then those regulations make it harder to do the job so now they need more drivers.
There are more rookies out here with less than a years experaince then you can count, they flood the schools with mental midgets then turn them loose in trucks owner by Seift, Knight, CR England, Prime, Schnieder amd many others. As long as these companies are allowed to put idiots behind the wheel with low pay they make money.
Don?t buy into this, this is dirty pool by one of he most corrupt indistries out there, an indiatry that allows the ATA to use law to achieve what they cannot do through normal business practice. We are still for the most part running for wages and rates from the 80s and 90s, this is the ATA at work keeping revenue down and making money on volume. There have been a lot of small companies dissapear in the last 10 years as these mega carriers get bigger and bigger. Nothing but a scam ran by the ATA and FMCSA, friggin mob rule.
Sounds similar to the antics of the NRA. Political organization begging for donations to author legislation ultimately undermining the 2nd Amendment.0 -
quote:Originally posted by o b juan
BarZingA should be along soon to let you know it is Trump, Republcans, racists and bigots fault!
And it will be a long tirade with many quotes and news copies he found somewhere in the new york times and Rachel madcow.
Thats my guess
Brazilla shuts down every time I ask him what he wants America to be.
Try it! From what I have seen, He won't lie. Thats the only thing that he has me confused on.[:D]0 -
The Volvo truck plant out here in Pulaski VA is hiring for welding, assembly and paint, all shifts. I have a friend that works there, it's only a good job for those with 10-15 years and up in seniority, and they lay off for weeks at a time on a regular basis. It's like the railroad around here, until you build up significant seniority it is crappy job, with zero job security. 0
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