The American Transportation Research Institute, the trucking industry\u2019s not-for-profit research organization, released its 17th annual Top Industry Issues report, identifying a number of the industry\u2019s key concerns including the driver shortage, driver retention, driver compensation, lawsuit abuse reform, truck parking and for the first time, the shortage of diesel technicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ATRI list of top industry issues provides a critical snapshot of the challenges impacting our industry at any given moment,\u201d said\u00a0ATA Chair Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner Trucking, \u201cand this year is no exception as supply chain constraints dominate the nation\u2019s headlines.\u00a0 ATRI\u2019s annual analysis not only captures the industry\u2019s sentiment on the criticality of each of these issues but also maps out a course for addressing each through the stakeholder-ranked strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the fifth year in a row, the Driver Shortage topped the list of industry concerns, garnering more than four times as many first-place votes as the number two issue, Driver Retention.\u00a0 Further reflecting the industry\u2019s workforce challenges, Driver Compensation was ranked third overall.\u00a0 Lawsuit Abuse Reform rose three spots this year to take the number four spot and the lack of available Truck Parking rounded out the top five industry concerns.\u00a0 The Diesel Technician Shortage made the top-10 list for the first time this year, as the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0ranked most critical issue in the industry.<\/p>\n Nearly 25 percent of the survey respondents were professional truck drivers and among driver respondents, Driver Compensation and Truck Parking tied for the number one industry concern.\u00a0 Detention \/ Delay at Customer Facilities was ranked by drivers as their second most pressing concern.<\/p>\n More than 2,500 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year\u2019s survey, including motor carriers, drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, law enforcement, and others.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year\u2019s large response shows just how serious our industry is about identifying the most critical concerns and more importantly, figuring out how we collectively deal with each issue,\u201d said\u00a0ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really is no surprise that truck driver-related issues \u2013 notably the driver shortage and driver retention \u2013 ranked so high on the survey. Coming out of the pandemic, with the increased demand for goods and other pressures on the supply chain, getting and keeping drivers has been a real challenge industrywide,\u201d Brewster said. \u201cWe also see the impacts of the current supply chain crunch in how highly issues like driver compensation, truck parking, infrastructure and driver detention ranked on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n