Officials with a Texas-based company believe that truck drivers are so valuable it is willing to pay $14,000 a week for experienced haulers who own their own rig.
That’s a big 1-4.
Jim Grundy, the CEO of Sisu Energy, is offering the fat payday, KENS-TV reported. But newbies need not apply.
“Insurance companies won’t insure you if you’re not 25 years old, if you don’t have two years of experience,” Grundy told the television station. “So as a new driver coming out, these opportunities aren’t available to you.”
A spokesperson for Grundy clarified that he is hiring owner-operators of trucks and not company drivers. Grundy will help the driver acquire the truck and their license, the spokesperson said.
Many truckers left the industry after the pandemic hit, and the massive shortage caused rates to transport products like gasoline to fall. With COVID-19 restrictions easing, demand has risen -- but with fewer truck drivers, a massive shortage is possible.
”And it’s not just going to be gasoline. It’s not going just going to be wood,” Grundy told KENS. “You’re talking about all your retail goods just like clothing, food, toilet paper, you name it.”
Grundy believes shortages will last beyond this summer.
“That’s the narrative that you’re hearing,” Grundy told the television station. “That this thing is going to last anywhere from two to four years. And it could be longer because the population’s getting stronger.”
Companies needed approximately 60,000 truck drivers nationwide in late 2018, KENS reported. Those drivers moved nearly 71% of all freight nationwide. As the demand rises, Grundy believes the industry will need to hire about 1.1 million drivers over the next decade.
New laws are also making an impact, he said.
“I think the proposal is an 8% corporate tax increase in the past couple of weeks was introduced,” Grundy told the television station. “We’re making it more and more difficult for these guys to get back on the road and these businesses open back up.”
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Cox Media Group
