To alleviate the increasing port traffic in California due to overcrowding of empty shipping containers which resulted in snail-paced transportation of the products to consumers, trucking industries offer six-digit salaries and five-figure bonuses to recruit new drivers as the supply crisis in the country worsens, Daily Mail Online reported.
Trucking industries are now taking their radical initiatives offering six-figure salaries and $15,000 sign-on bonuses to attract tens of thousands of drivers in the nation. They initially believed they would solve the port traffic jam and the slow process of transporting products to the consumers. Although faced with a hundred thousand retiring truckers in 2028, hauling companies are in desperate need of hiring 80,000 new drivers this year to remediate the supply-chain disruption.
Thousands of Empty Shipping Containers Hinder the Swift Flow of Product Transfer to the Consumers (Photo: Chris Mckeen/Stuff)
Every Industry was Looking for Drivers
According to Chris Shimonida, senior vice president at the California Trucking Association, in an interview with the Daily Mail, every single industry in the country is looking for drivers. The board approves the salary increase and retention bonuses to local drivers. However, this problem is already present for many years.
However, industry experts warn that it is not the number of drivers that will mitigate the condition in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Rather, it should be the absence of overcrowding empty shipping containers that hinder the swift flow of product transfer to the consumers. According to the chief executive of the Harbor Trucking Association, Matt Schrap, thousands of vacant containers extremely handicaps the drivers extracting the products.
Truck Drivers Need CDL
Shimoda confirms there is a 20 percent hike in the truck drivers’ wages as companies attract them into working. US Foods is offering $38.50 an hour, a $15,000 sign-up bonus, and a thousand-dollar quarterly bonus to a willing Northern Californian with the sole requirement of a commercial driver’s license (CDL). In June, JK Moving Services offered a $100,000 salary to its eligible drivers.
Representative Sam Graves led a group of 160 Republican legislators who addressed the urgency of fixing the supply chain crisis to President Joe Biden. The letter was sent on Wednesday containing the significance of immediate action towards the national crisis.
The current supply chain problem has generated a months-long shortage of several products, including Christmas toys and holiday ingredients. It is expected that the crisis will get even worse before it improves, the news added.
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