Keeping up with trucking industry news is part of being a true transportation professional. With that in mind, here are some of the latest stories from across the country.
Con-Way Offers Paid Training in Bid to Attract Drivers
One of the biggest challenges facing the transportation industry is attracting new entrants into the field. While the old pros are retiring in record numbers, the young blood that keeps the industry going is hard to find these days. Reasons for this include:
- Time spent away from home.
- Stress associated with the job.
- The need to manually shift gears; many younger drivers have never operated a stick shift before, even in a passenger car.
- Perceptions of low pay and long hours.
- The costs involved with training for a trucking career.
Now Con-Way Truckload, the 16th largest carrier in the US, is tackling the training issue by paying as much as $4,000 of a new driver’s schooling. “We’re lowering the barrier to entry and providing jobs for these students right out of school,” said Vice-President of Human Resources Bert Johnson, who works at the company’s Joplin, MO headquarters.
Covering the tab for training is only one of many incentives that businesses are offering to draw new recruits to the transportation field. We will continue to report on these trends as we update our trucking industry news on a regular basis.
Use of Fleet Management Systems on the Rise
In another piece of trucking industry news, more companies are using fleet management systems than ever before. Currently the industry has more than 4 million systems in use throughout North America. That number is expected to increase to more than 8 million by 2018.
This will mean more data flowing through the Internet, most of it wirelessly. It will increase pressure on cyber-security experts to keep these systems safe from hackers and terrorist groups. But it will also mean more freedom from paperwork for the hundreds of thousands of transportation pros working across North and South America.
Ladies, Start Your Rigs!
One piece of trucking industry news that never wants for coverage is the critical need for more drivers. Estimates show that the current shortage of transportation pros stands at more than 30,000. In 10 years that number may grow as high as 200,000.
To meet this ever-increasing demand, companies are trying to draw new demographic groups towards considering a trucking career. One of these groups is women. Right now, female drivers represent only about 5% of the trucking workforce. This is expected to change in the coming years, however, as firms make renewed efforts to recruit women to the field.
Already, trucking schools across the country are seeing an influx of females into their student bodies. Some are drawn by the pay, others by the opportunity to do something they’re truly interested in. All of them, however, are looking for a way to better provide for their loved ones. As more ladies enter the business, we here at TruckingOffice welcome them aboard.
Transportation Software Moves to the Cloud
Here’s a piece of trucking industry news that’s especially dear to our hearts. As technology continues to advance, most of the functions that used to depend on CDs and floppy disks can now be performed entirely online. This is what the computer pros mean when they talk about “the Cloud.” This offers several advantages over the old way of doing things, including:
- No more lost data due to theft, fires, or hard drive crashes.
- The ability to check and update your records from any location with an Internet connection.
- 24/7 protection for your information by highly skilled technology specialists.
These are just a few of the benefits of using TruckingOffice. To find out more, take us for a free 30-day test drive!
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