Road Carriers set to Release Plan around Driver Shortage

25 January 2016

Media Release

National Road Carriers set to Release Strategic Plan around the Driver Shortage

The National Road Carriers Inc. (NRC) today signalled the February launch of their Road Transport Workforce Development Strategy that has been developed to address the root causes of the long term road transport driver shortage.

Members will have their first opportunity to learn more about the strategy and provide feedback during the NRC Road Transport Workforce Development Roadshow when it kicks off in late February.

The strategy, which is based on a consultative multilateral approach, will look to increase the number of Class 2-5 drivers and recognise the role that professional heavy freight drivers can play in improving road safety.

Ahead of the roadshow members are being surveyed to enable the NRC set a quantifiable benchmark of how the driver shortage is currently affecting road transport companies across New Zealand.

The road transport industry has suffered from a driver shortage for more than a decade with hundreds of trucks parked up across the country everyday as a result. With the situation predicted to get rapidly worse as New Zealand’s export economy continues to grow said David Aitken, CEO NRC.

“It is a complex issue that affects the industry’s ability to deliver efficiencies in transporting the nation’s products. As an export based economy, it is vital we have a productive and efficient road freight system to remain competitive both on the domestic and export markets.

“The driver situation is going to get rapidly worse as New Zealand’s freight task grows significantly faster than the professional drivers that have the qualifications and experience to operate Class 5 vehicles.

“As an industry we are committed to keeping New Zealand moving – we need to work together to address the broader issues that our industry face.

“The driver shortage is the symptom, this strategy looks at what the root causes are within the industry. Now that we have a clear macro view of these root causes we are looking to work with our membership base, the broader road transport industry, government and our customers to put in place specific programmes of work that will address the root causes.

“Industry stakeholders including transport operators large and small, ministries including Ministry of Social Development along with the NZ Police and defence forces have contributed to the strategy to date, David added.

“We want to keep New Zealand moving, to do this we need to work together to ensure the future resilience of our industry.

© Scoop Media