We know from last October’s Te ara ki tua Road to Success roadshow, as well as a workforce survey we did last year, that many trucks are parked up countrywide because of a lack of drivers. We also know that in parts of New Zealand, the recruitment of new people is currently little more than a trickle. If we don’t turn this around soon, we’ll have a serious labour shortage on our hands.

New Zealand has been short of experienced truck drivers for some years. While initiatives such as Transporting New Zealand’s Road to Success driver trainee programme are working to address this, we are now in competition with economies all around the world facing the same problem.

The global transport sector’s labour issues have developed over time as multinational companies have worked to drive down supply-chain costs. At the same time, the trucking workforce in developed nations has aged. Throw Brexit, Covid-19, and the huge growth of e-commerce during the pandemic into the mix, and you can understand how in the past couple of years the problem has got so much worse.

It is estimated that Britain’s heavyvehicle driver shortfall stands at 100,000 – even pre-pandemic it was estimated to be more than 60,000.

In September, Britain faced a petrol crisis, in part caused by a shortage of truck drivers able to deliver fuel. Even relaxing visa rules to allow overseas fuel tanker drivers to work in the UK isn’t expected to do much to resolve the issue, with experts warning parts of continental Europe may also face driver shortages.

In research looking at European driver shortages, analysis company Transport Intelligence estimated that across Europe, the total shortfall of drivers now exceeds 400,000.

With so many better-paid opportunities in these bigger economies, hanging on to the young drivers we have will become even more challenging as they look to take advantage of their skills and travel overseas.

Driver shortages have an enormous impact on every part of the economy and society. A shortage puts increasing pressure on the drivers already in the industry, with obvious impacts on their mental and physical wellbeing. The long hours affect relationships and take parents away from their children. Working extended hours, even legally, can result in fatigue, and we all know the issues that can create when it comes to road safety.

Even if we could source drivers overseas, Covid-19 border restrictions mean it’s almost impossible for them to enter New Zealand. We’re just one of a long list of occupations hurting because we can’t bring people into the country to help alleviate labour shortages.

That is why Transporting New Zealand’s Road to Success trainee scheme is so important. It won’t solve the problem overnight, but it will, we hope, support industry employers to take on trainees.

The training is a mixture of practical and theoretical components and is designed to lead directly to qualifications relevant to our industry. It also allows trainees to undertake large chunks of it while going about their regular day-today jobs.

I believe this will help encourage people to get into our industry and provide operators with the confidence that new, inexperienced staff will quickly learn the ropes to be safe and productive members of the industry’s workforce.

Many operators already undertake some in-house or external training. However, that is largely based on progressing drivers through the various driver licence levels.

The reality for many young people is that they simply do not have the luxury to gain qualifications before they enter the workforce so it is imperative that as an industry, road transport offers them the chance to earn a decent wage and work towards qualifications at the same time.

Traditionally, a bone of contention for operators has been spending the time and money employing and training someone just for that person to leave for a job elsewhere in the industry. While this is an understandable concern in a commercial environment, it is a fear we need to move past. When it comes to the industry’s workforce, it will take a collective effort to turn around the current situation and that will take a certain degree of selflessness. Nothing we can ever do individually will really make a dent in the problem.

Recent well-publicised changes in the industry association/representation structure will not impact the availability of the traineeship to the wider industry. Road to Success is a Transporting New Zealand initiative delivered nationally from our office in Wellington. We will continue to make the traineeship available to all road-freight operators, no matter where they are based.

To find out more, check out the Road to Success website (roadtosuccess. nz) or contact us directly at success@transporting.nz, (04) 471 8283.