The U.S. meat and poultry industry will likely continue to be troubled by a shortage of available truckers, a pork industry economist said.
“A long-term issue that all of us here have to deal with is transportation,” Steve Meyer, economist, Kerns & Associates, said on March 4 at the Annual Meat Conference in Dallas, Texas.
“It’s been a huge thing in the pork industry on the meat side of plants. In many cases, they can’t get trucks, can’t get drivers to haul the product out.”
Waivers won’t last forever
The situation isn’t as dire for haulers of live animals, as waivers have been allowed to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Hours of Service rules, but Meyer said those waivers won’t last forever.
At some point, the Department of Transportation will say it’s no different getting into a wreck with live animals than it is with (frozen, processed meat),” he said.
Salary increases will only do so much good
In an effort to help alleviate the problem, driver salaries are being raised to make the jobs more attractive, but there is still one more barrier that must be taken into account.
“I don’t care how much you offer them. If they can’t pass a drug test, they’re not going to drive a truck,” Meyer said.
And that shortage isn’t just impacting the U.S. meat and poultry industries. It is also hurting essentially every other industry that is reliant on truck drivers.
“I think this is a huge issue that the entire economy is going to have to come to terms with, but the livestock and meat industry in particular,” he said.
Meyer made his comments during the session “Market Outlook for Meat and Poultry.” Others speaking during the session were Paul Aho, economist and consultant, Poultry Perspective; and Rancy Blach, CEO, Cattlefax.
