There’s no certainty about how many people in the trucking industry have lost their jobs due to retrenchment or company closure.
Speaking during a webinar hosted by the Road Freight Association (RFA) and Engen on the impact of Covid-19 on the trucking industry, RFA CEO Gavin Kelly said they knew of at least eight companies that had already closed doors.
“We also know of many companies under duress trying to get through this crisis. Several companies have already started retrenchment processes or made notification of the economic situation they are in.”
But, he said, at present the situation was still in flux and uncertainty prevailed.
“We will only have a clearer indication of the impact of Covid-19 once companies start operating at full capacity again. At present many companies are still working under reduced capacity and we simply don’t have the information at the moment of how many people have been retrenched or will be in the near future.”
He said there was, however, no denying that the trucking industry had been hard hit by the pandemic and that many businesses were under severe pressure and fighting for survival.
Mohsina Chenia, an executive consultant at Cliff Dekker Hofmeyr attorneys, said while she could not speak for the road freight sector at large she did have several clients in the sector and a number had been severely impacted. “I work with many employers in the road freight industry and some of them have had to undergo a retrenchment exercise or consider reducing employees’ salaries to save jobs. Most of our clients are coming to us and asking what they can do.”
