DRIVERS SHORTAGE * USA - Fleets acknowledge driver shortage a problem, report finds

Columbus,OH,USA -Truck News (CAN) -May 6, 2011: -- A shortage of drivers is already weighing on the minds of many US fleet managers, according to the findings of the Q2 2011 Fleet Sentiment Report...  The report surveyed 52 fleets operating 77,000 power units and 132,000 trailers in the US and was conducted by research firm CKCVR...  More than 70% of fleets surveyed indicated the driver shortage is either impacting their fleet now or may in the future. Forty-two per cent said they are currently having trouble keeping seats filled and must limit the number of new units they can add to their fleet...  Another 32% who claim to be unaffected now, still believe the shortage of drivers could impact their fleet in the future, the survey found...  The Fleet Sentiment Buynig Index fell to a reading of 90.5, yet still points toward continued strong demand for medium- and heavy-duty power units and trailers, CKCVR reports...  (Image from msnbcmedia1: A recent study by the American Trucking Association concluded that 82,000 new truckers were needed.)

TRUCKERS' SHORTAGE * Belgium - More than 2300 drivers lost each year in road transport

Deficit of 2,350 drivers per year

Brussels,Belgium -Truck & Business, by Claude Yvens -29 April 2011: -- The consequences of the economic crisis are not yet fully absorbed that, already, the driver shortage becomes a concern for the size of Belgian transport. Already, they are no less than 1200 to 1500 drivers who go missing each year in Belgium...  NSSO figures include only people who have a contract of employment in one industry. They thus exclude areas such as the move, trading of fuel (in which companies must have permissions of transport), but also independents and drivers under temporary contracts. They take the cons by foreign drivers working under contract in Belgium...  The latest available figures relate to the fourth quarter of 2009, where 59,804 workers were employed in road transport, only 59.75% as drivers (or 35,732 persons). This proportion is indeed declining for years, confirming the shift towards the logistics activities...  Another calculation of the number of vehicles bearing license to transport reports 55,600 trucks used by the sector in November 2010...   If 3000 drivers each year leave the road transport sector, while only 650 new drivers joining the ranks, the annual shortfall thus reaches 2350 drivers per year...