Truckers and road freight companies are calling the shots in the American transport business due to a growing shortage of drivers.
Trucking companies are now rating customers and charging premiums for servicing clients guilty of wasting drivers’ time, a Bloomberg study has found.
A shortfall of 78 000 US truck drivers in 2016 has ballooned to 280 000 this year, prompting road freight rates to jump 27% in the first quarter of 2018.
Not only are road freight firms adding surcharges if their customers’ lack of preparedness holds up a driver by more than two hours, but some slothful customers are being blacklisted.
“If a shipper in our network is a serial abuser of detention, we will not take their freight,” said Drew McElroy, CEO of the trucking company Transfix. Trucking firms also want their drivers taken care of while at customers’ facilities.
