Retailers need to brace for a “massive shortage” of North American trucking capacity when consumer demand returns to pre-recession levels, according to an industry executive.
“When the uptick comes in consumer shipping, it’s going to be a bloodbath,” Coastal Pacific Express Inc. co-owner and co-president Jim Mickey recently told Business in Vancouver. “It was a big story five years ago. This next one is going to make that one look like nothing.”
Mickey notes that the recession has hit the trucking industry hard, with falling consumer demand resulting in a glut of trucking supply. In response to the oversupply, he said, the trucking industry has contracted sharply.
“In the last few years, there’s been an awful lot of exodus,” he said.
And when demand picks up beyond current trucking capacity, Mickey said, the industry won’t be able to move fast enough to accommodate it.
“It takes about five years from when you say, ‘Geez, we don’t have enough truck drivers,’ till we’re back comfortable again.’.
The result?
“There are going to be empty shelves at some retailers.”