Trucking Bankruptcies Ease Shortage Of Drivers; Legions of drivers are out of work...

[Purveyor]

Legions of drivers are out of work as a result of high diesel costs and the dismal economy.

During the first three months of the year, 935 trucking companies filed for bankruptcy, according to Avondale Partners research.

ALBANY, N.Y. --

Bob Lingyak's job is a lot easier these days.

As head of recruiting at trucking company Gypsum Express, for years Lingyak had to take what he could get when it came to long-haul drivers amid a shortage of workers qualified to handle the big rigs and willing to spend weeks on the road.

But, as the cost of diesel fuel soars and the economy slows, hundreds of small to mid-sized trucking outfits are folding – leaving legions of trained drivers looking for work.

“It's turned around quite a bit,” Lingyak said. “It used to be the drivers who could pick and choose. Now we can pick and choose.”

Trucking companies have long lamented what they say has been a chronic shortage of long-haul – or over-the-road – drivers. A 2005 analysis by Global Insight estimated that by 2014 the industry will fall about 111,000 drivers short of the 1.7 million expected to be needed to keep the nation's long-haul freight moving.

But in the short term, the labor crunch appears to have eased.


AP: http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/667265.html