On Saturday, the sixth annual Southern Alberta Truck Fair, Job Fair and Show N’ Shine welcomed hundreds of visitors to Lethbridge.
Lane Jacobson, president of the Southern Alberta Truck Show Association, says events like these are important to connect and educate the community about the trucking industry. He said right now, he’s most worried about the driver shortage.
“We are 10 to 20 percent short drivers,” says Jacobson. “For every driver who retires, they need four people to come in to replace them; they only get two, maybe one. “
Lane Jacobson (right) and his wife, Kani Jacobson (left), were delighted to see the community launch and learn about the industry.
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Personnel Transport Canada has released a Urgent report in June said “for the third consecutive quarter, the number of vacancies skyrocketed, with 25,560 truck driver vacancies recorded between January and March 2022. This is the number of vacancies. Highest employment ever recorded for the Canadian trucking and logistics industry since the time of hiring. the survey started in 2015.”
John Stewart, co-owner of Watt & Stewart Commodities Inc., said “it’s very important for the industry and the economy to have a truck driver because everything in this room is delivered by truck.” .
Stewart also noticed a shortage of equipment.
“Right now, there’s a huge shortage of trucks… we can’t buy parts, we can’t have a lot of what we need, not just drivers,” says Stewart.
Longtime truck driver John Stewart said it was important for the industry to find a solution to the driver shortage.
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Jacobson is concerned that as shortages continue, commodity prices will likely continue to escalate. “To reduce (the cost of goods) we need the driver to be in the seat,” he said.
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