Identifying the obstacles that keep women from trucking

Women comprise only 7% of the workforce in trucking today. And with the industry is experiencing an unprecedented truck driver shortage and a driver turnover rate that is the highest it’s been since 2015, many feel the industry needs to do better.

So when people ask Ellen Voie, president and CEO of The Women In Trucking Association (WIT), why there is a need for a Women In Trucking Association, her response is always this:

“If you’re happy with 7% female drivers and 14% of women in management, then you probably don’t think it’s important to encourage women to look at careers in this industry,” Voie told American Trucker. “But we aren’t satisfied with that.”

Voie recently started hosting a live, call-in radio show called Women In Trucking on SiriusXM Road Dog channel 146. The weekly, two-hour show premiered on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 11 a.m. ET. 

The show, which airs every Saturday, features listener call-ins and interviews with professionals from the trucking industry – from drivers, technicians, and engineers to transportation CEOs and dispatchers – sharing their stories of the challenges and opportunities of the open road.

The show addresses gender diversity issues in trucking and pushes for more women to join its ranks. The show also intends to help promote the employment of more women by identifying and removing the obstacles that keep them from entering the field.

Keera Brooks of Sawgrass Logistics joined Voie for the pilot show on Jan. 20 and the two discussed a recent WIT Best Practices Survey that takes a deeper dive into what attracts female drivers into the industry and what makes them leave.

The survey found that men are more interested in telling others about the job and about encouraging them to become truck drivers, while women are less likely to recommend the job to others.

“Women feel that they’re not treated fairly,” Voie said, noting this is based on information coming from WIT members. “They feel that dispatchers treat them less fairly than their other male counterparts and that treatment by other men isn’t always the best.”

In addition, the survey found that female truckers don’t necessarily feel safe in their work. On a scale of 1 to 10 of whether they felt safe in their job, women rated safety as a 4.4.

Voie explained that more women are likely to leave a trucking company because of faulty, more dangerous equipment. “We think safety means they want to feel safe on the road and make sure equipment doesn’t break down,” she said.

“We also talked about recruiting and how nobody talks about safety in their recruiting ads, and they should,” Voie added. “They should talk about safety as a priority and that means personal safety just as much as the maintenance of the truck. I don’t think companies have caught onto that yet.”

When it comes to women entering the trucking industry, a vast majority of women – 83% – came into the industry because of a family member or friend. However, those same women didn’t recruit or recommend other women to the industry.

“Think about this,” Voie explained. “83% of women are brought in because somebody has said, ‘Hey this is a great job;’ yet they’re not telling anyone else it’s a great job because they don’t think it is.”

In response, Voie received an email from a male listener asking, “Why are you asking men to change?”

“I said, ‘No, we’re not asking men to change, in fact, 19% of our members are men,’” Voie explained. “‘We’re not asking you to do anything differently rather than treat women as professionals.’”

Voie also noted that women typically have a better understanding of what the truck driver lifestyle entails because they ask a lot of questions before entering the industry. That means once women are in the industry, they tend to stay and are less likely to leave due to lack of family and home time.

During last week’s show, one woman called and asked why so many women come into the industry as a second or third career rather than as a first option. Then she asked: “How do we reach millennials?”

“We spent a lot of time trying to understand how we can attract millennials into this industry – male and female,” Voie stressed. “I think the industry can do a much better job talking about the technology because millennials are more comfortable with technology. But instead people see a truck with a diesel engine and a smokestack and they don’t know about all the cool stuff that’s inside that truck that makes it a much safer piece of equipment.”

For her upcoming, Jan. 27 show, Voie will discuss the gig economy and the Uberization of trucking with Tana Greene, who is CEO of Blue Bloodhound and a WIT finalist for The Influential Women in Trucking.

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Earnings Watch: Schneider, Saia, USA Truck, YRC Worldwide

February 02, 2018

By Evan Lockridge

The string of trucking companies reporting better fourth-quarter and 2017 earnings has finally been broken. While Schneider National Inc. and Saia Corp. reported better numbers, USA Truck Inc. returned to only partial profitability and YRC Worldwide Inc. reported losses in both time frames.

Net income for Schneider totaled $283.9 million in the final quarter of last year, or $1.60 per share – a nearly six-fold increase from $47.8 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same quarter in 2016. It was pushed higher by net deferred tax liability of $229.5 million due to the Congressional tax legislation passed and signed into law in December, according to the company.

Total revenue for the quarter was nearly $1.2 billion, compared to a little less than $1.1 billion a year earlier.

“A tight supply and demand environment existed in the fourth quarter and our price improved across the board – contract, tier and spot – as customers responded to driver capacity constraints in the market,” said Chris Lofgren, CEO. “The actions we took in the third quarter to build our driver fleet favorably impacted fourth quarter results.”

For all of 2017, Schneider saw net income more than double, hitting $389.9 million, or $2.28 per share, compared to $156.9 million, or $1 per share, a year earlier. Revenue for last year was nearly $4.4 billion, versus a little more than $4 billion in 2016.

Truckload revenues in the fourth quarter, excluding fuel surcharge, were up 6% from the fourth quarter of 2016, totaling $570.6 million, primarily due to productivity and price, according to the company. Improved truck productivity and effective freight selection resulted in revenue per truck per week of $3,797, an increase of 5.3% over a year earlier. Despite these gains, income from operations was flat at $63.4 million.

Intermodal revenues, excluding fuel surcharge, were 5% higher in the fourth quarter of 2017 than a year ago, rising to $208.6 million, due to a 3.9% increase in orders and a 1.5% increase in revenue per order, according to Schneider.

Logistics revenues, excluding fuel surcharge, increased 26% in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same quarter in 2016, totaling $249.5 million. Income from operations increased 48% to $13.4 million.

At the mainly less-than-truckload carrier Saia Inc., fourth quarter 2017 net income more than quadrupled from the same time a year ago, totaling $47.8 million, or $1.82 per share. Revenue increased to $353.3 million, a 17% increase.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, the company recorded a reduction in deferred income tax liability due to federal tax reform, benefitting Saia by  $1.29 per share.

LTL shipments per workday increased 8.7% during the quarter. LTL tonnage per workday increased 8.3%. LTL revenue per hundredweight increased 8.7%.

“Fourth quarter results reflect not only significant growth from our expansion into new markets this past year, but are also indicative of continuing strong freight activity and disciplined pricing,” said Saia President and CEO Rick O’Dell.

For all of 2017, Saia reported record revenue of $1.4 billion compared to $1.2 billion in 2016. Net income last year totaled $91.2 million versus $48 million in 2016.

LTL shipments per workday increased 5.6% in 2017 over 2016 as LTL tonnage per workday moved 5.2% higher. There was an 8% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight.

“In 2018 we plan to open terminals in four to six new markets, as we continue to execute on our plan to provide 48-state coverage for our customers over the next few years,” said O’Dell.

In December the Georgia-based Saia announced it had opened its sixth Northeast terminal in the last eight months.

Meantime things were a different for two other carriers.

USA Truck reported net income of $14.8 million, or $1.84 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to a net loss of $3.8 million, or 48 cents per share, the same time a year ago.

Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $123.3 million, up from $103.1 million.

The company said changes in federal tax laws, which reduced its federal income tax rate, lowered its income tax expense during the quarter by approximately $12 million, or $1.49 per share.

Excluding the tax law reform impact, adjusted net income was $2.8 million, or 35 cents per share, representing a year-over-year improvement of $6.5 million, or 82 cents per share.

“The fourth quarter adjusted results represent the third highest adjusted earnings per share for USA Truck in the last 10 year,” said President and CEO James Reed. “We continue to be impacted by this increasingly tight driver and independent contractor recruiting environment, and increasing cost pressures in our logistics business that could threaten margins.”

Despite the better fourth quarter, for all of 2017 USA Truck reported a loss of $2.1 million, That’s smaller than its 2016 loss of $7.5 million. Revenue in 2017 climbed to $446.5 million from $429.1 million a year earlier.

USA’s trucking segment reported fourth quarter operating revenue increased 19.8%, to $83.8 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. This increase was primarily due to a 20.1% increase in base revenue per loaded mile, according to the company.

Trucking operating income was $3.5 million for the 2017 period and an adjusted operating ratio of 95.2%, compared to a $6.2 million operating loss and an adjusted operating ratio of 109.8% for the 2016 period.

The company’s logistics operation also improved in the fourth quarter, with revenue of $39.5 million, representing a 19% year-over-year improvement, and a 4.5% improvement sequentially. Gross margin decreased to 17.9% compared to 18.6% in 4Q16.

“A tightening spot market in the fourth quarter drove up purchased transportation costs, making it increasingly difficult to preserve margins,” USA Truck said. “This was driven in part by the electronic [logging] device implementation in mid-December that led carriers to raise rates preemptively.”

The story at less-than-truckload carrier YRC Worldwide Inc. was much different, with a loss of $7.5 million, or 23 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2017, the same as it was a year earlier. This came despite revenue increasing to $1.2 billion from $1.15 billion.

For full-year 2017, the net loss was $10.8 million compared to net income of $21.5 million in 2016. The fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results were impacted by a $7.6 million non-union pension settlement charge, according to the company.

According to CEO James Welch, the fourth quarter results were lower than previously released projections, primarily due to purchased transportation expense being unfavorably affected by a shortage of revenue equipment and a demand for drivers.

“These factors contributed to an increase in local purchased transportation and short-term rental expense, including the impact from approximately 2,000 rented tractors and trailers,” he said. “Going forward these expenses can be mitigated by continuing to upgrade our fleet, hiring additional pick-up and delivery drivers and improving productivities.

During the fourth quarter YRC Worldwide said it took delivery of more than 450 tractors with approximately another 900 scheduled for delivery in the first two quarters of 2018. It also took delivery of more than 1,900 trailers with approximately another 450 expected to be delivered in the first half of 2018.

“As we enter 2018, positive pricing and demand trends suggest the outlook for the trucking industry remains positive. The dynamics of the industry, including the planned progression of electronic logging device enforcement and an ongoing shortage of qualified drivers, could restrict capacity further,” said Welch. “With the revenue equipment and technology investments that we are making plus our initiative to grow yield, we’re excited about 2018 and the opportunity we have in front of us to improve the business.”

There were some positive nuggets in the results. At YRC Freight, including fuel surcharge, fourth quarter 2017 revenue per hundredweight increased 4.4% and revenue per shipment increased 4.9% compared to the same period in 2016. Excluding fuel surcharge, revenue per hundredweight increased 2.6% and revenue per shipment increased 3.1%.

Also, in the company’s regional segment, including fuel surcharge, fourth quarter 2017 revenue per hundredweight increased 1.2% and revenue per shipment increased 4.6% when compared to the same period in 2016. However, excluding fuel surcharge, revenue per hundredweight decreased 0.4% but revenue per shipment increased 2.9%.

Finally, as of the end of 2017, the company’s outstanding debt was $926.1 million, a decrease of $84.2 million compared to $1.010 billion at the end of 2016. YRC Worldwide has struggled over the past decade to remain profitable, after having come close to filing for bankruptcy more than once.

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Breaking down the truck capacity shortage

Every shipper was warned a capacity shortage would soon hit the trucking industry.

Like a boogeyman, the expected impact of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has loomed large to shippers for months. Rates, they knew, would go up — but by how much? It was clear the most ardent owner-operators would leave the market place in protest, but for how long?

Now, the capacity shortage is here — and it’s not going away any time soon.

See, ELDs offer a convenient excuse for an industry facing a chronic under-capacity. But supply chain managers with decades of experience know trucks are always hard to get — some days, months and years are just tougher than other times.

When a regulation like the ELD mandate comes about, is it proper to fret about a looming shortage? Of course, because that’s the reality and it will have effects. However, is that really the problem the industry faces?

To answer that question, Supply Chain Dive spoke to Mark Montague, Industry Pricing Manager at DAT, and Avery Vise, Vice President of Trucking Research at FTR, to lay bare the fundamental problems that haunt the trucking industry, and ask what it will take to correct it.

Why do we have a truck capacity shortage?

The industry’s current shortage can be broken down into three main reasons, according to Montague:

• A strong economy
• Unfavorable winter weather
• The ELD mandate

But behind these three indicators lies an even bigger problem: the driver shortage.

“We’re almost always in an environment in which the number of drivers is actually below what is fully needed,” said Vise.

Every truck needs a driver — and even if the promise of autonomous trucks delivers, high cargo theft rates mean it may take a long time for shippers to accept leaving a shipment unguarded on the road.

In other words, despite regulation or advances in technology, the number of trucks on the road will always follow the number of drivers in the labor market. And that, according to experts, is the real problem the industry faces.

Why is there a driver shortage?

At the end of the day, the driver shortage can be explained by looking at the industry’s turnover rates and the nation’s labor statistics.

“Turnover rates never seem to get down below 40%,” said Vise. “It’s just a matter of: (trucking) is not the most attractive job, and pay is not commensurate with responsibilities.”

To meet production demand, an industry must be able to pay competitively for the type of work involved, retain a stable labor base and consistently recruit new workers. When it comes to trucking, though, few of those conditions are often true.

Take a few figures: the average trucker gets paid roughly $41,000 annually, is more than 55 years old, and often drives 10-or-so hour shifts.

“It does not seem a profession that attracts millennials. It doesn’t suit their lifestyle,” Montague said.

The Driver Availability Index is an indicator of the labor pool that is theoretically available to become truck drivers, not real driver supply.

FTR, Copyright 2018

The ELD mandate only exacerbates this problem. Before the rule, a trucker could squeeze in more miles by not recording waiting, in traffic or elsewhere, on their paper logs. Now, ELDs automatically record that time, reducing the miles a driver can travel under regulation. A stricter enforcement of such regulations could result, in some cases, 10% fewer miles, or more than $100 a day in lost productivity.

“You can’t think of the driver market as being a closed system,” according to Vise. “A driving job is competing with a blue-collar job in construction, and to some degree manufacturing in non-union places.”

Driver availability tends to follow the unemployment rate in that way. “When we saw unemployment rates of near 10%, demand wasn’t that high either. When demand is low, driver supply is fine — and vice versa,” Vise added.

When the economy is suffering, and unemployment is high, workers are more likely to take jobs that don’t perfectly match their ideal work. Trucking pays competitively, even if the lifestyle is hard. It’s a perfect and stable gig for a few years.

But when the economy is as stable as it is now, the trucking industry suffers a supply-demand imbalance. Truckers who took the job as a gig may leave the market to work other more suitable gig economy jobs — such as construction or manufacturing.

Unfortunately, this zero-sum dynamic theoretically happens as the economy is ramping up. Those same manufacturers that need workers to fill their lines, or construction firms recruiting to meet a spurt of new real estate investment, also need more trucks on the road to transport the product.

“Truck driving is a double-edged sword in that (while) it’s easy to get into, it’s also easy to leave because you know you can get back into it,” said Vise.

Is there a solution?

“If you look at everything that’s in place now, it’s kind of hard to imagine a solution,” Vise added.

Several government initiatives may help, but likely not fix the problem.

A new provision in the tax law could help companies turn saving on equipment expenses into more drivers being hired, as one example, but that won’t help get more drivers on the market altogether or improve the turnover rate, Vise said when asked for ideas. Montague added the military will continue be a powerful source of new drivers, given veterans’ experience driving heavy vehicles.

Technology may also play a role in the future — think autonomous or platooning vehicles — but both Montague and Vise said it would take years before it begins to have a real effect.

“Certainly longer term, it’s going to be beneficial,” said Vise. Self-driving technology could help reallocate the driver workforce, and change the type of work they do to make it more attractive.

To date, however, systems remain so complex, a fully trained driver remains necessary. For example, Montague asks, what if a system — whether a camera or sensor — ceases to function? A driver must still be available and ready to take command.

“I think it’s not a revolutionary, but an evolutionary (shift)” in the trucking industry, Vise agreed.

In the meantime, play the market

The trucking industry has always seen rates ebb and flow with the economy.

While this year may have seen an unseasonably tight market, shippers should always be looking for a shift in market fundamentals, in case it provides a future rate advantage.

Add together the construction spike following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, with winter weather and strong consumer demand, and it yields a perfect economic tailwind for the trucking industry.

“The fact that rates are up in places like the Southwest part of the U.S., Texas and California, indicate that it’s not just a weather-related phenomenon,” said Montague. “This is a nationwide phenomenon.”

FTR, Copyright 2018

However, those combined trends are not unheard of in January, as weather challenges and first quarter activity tend to combine into periods of tight capacity.

Shippers looking to gauge the market should look to the first few weeks of February.

These provide a better bellwether for the state of freight, as they are generally “the low point of the year for freight activity,” Montague said. “If it’s tight in February, that’s pretty much a warning sign to really go into corrective mode and be more proactive because it’s going to be a tough spring and summer.”

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US trucker Knight-Swift sees higher freight rates in 2018

(Reuters) – Trucking company Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (KNX.N) said on Tuesday it expected higher contract rates for the freight it carries this year, warning that the worst-ever market for hiring new drivers would likely restrain capacity.

Recruiting and retaining truck drivers has been a lingering problem for U.S. trucking companies as they compete for qualified ones at a time of low unemployment, while striving to keep pay, a huge expense, as low as possible. [nL2N1PO1QI]

“Given the strength in the freight market and the inflationary pressures the industry is experiencing in driver wages, we expect to see rate increases in our contract business in the high single digits to low double digits throughout 2018,” Chief Executive Dave Jackson told analysts on a post-earnings conference call.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based company posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit boosted by recent changes to U.S. tax law and improving freight demand, but missed expectations on revenue. The results include a $364.2 million income tax benefit from the tax changes.

Shares of Knight-Swift, which have risen about 13 percent over the last 60 trading days, jumped 8 percent to $49 after closing 2.9 percent lower on Tuesday.

Driver wages were up 6-7 percent in the quarter, Jackson said, noting “some pent-up wage pressure” after two years of small or no pay bumps.

The driver shortage remains a challenge for the industry and will likely hurt the ability to increase capacity, he added.

Jackson also said capacity for third-party carriers has tightened due to a U.S. regulation that trucking companies use electronic logging devices to track the number of hours drivers are behind the wheel. [nL2N1N81QT]

Knight-Swift plans net capital expenditures of $525 million to $575 million for 2018 as the company moves away from leasing equipment.

The company also said it was on track to achieve synergy goals of $150 million by 2019. Last year, Swift Transportation Co and Knight Transportation Holdings Inc (KNX.N) merged in a stock-swap deal that created a company with a current market value of more than $8.31 billion.

Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Richard Chang

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Michigan Trucking Companies Struggle to Find Drivers

In a day and age where nearly every product customers purchase is transported by a semi-truck, trucking companies are struggling to find qualified drivers to fill open positions.

The trucking industry makes up one of the nation’s largest workforces, employing more than 3.5 million drivers and despite the workforce numbers, estimates say the industry is currently short 50,000 drivers. That number is expected to increase moving forward and according to American Trucking Associations, predictions say there will be a shortage of nearly 180,000 drivers in 2026.

RELATED: Survey – driver shortage explains unseated trucks

“The last few years, we have seen the driver shortage and it is getting worse,” said Helen Zeerip, president of Teddy’s Transport in Holland, Mich. “The ‘baby boomers’ have retired and the younger generations don’t seem to be interested in becoming a professional truck driver. All the trucking companies I talk to want or need to hire more drivers and they are very hard to find.”

Tom Van Wyk, president of TransWay, Inc. in Holland said the reality for companies both locally and nationally is there are just not enough qualified, experienced drivers. He said no matter the size of the company, there is a good chance they are having trouble filling positions.

Van Wyk confirmed at TransWay, they do currently have open equipment.

Bob Costello serves as the chief economist and senior vice president of American Trucking Associations and in a recent publication, the Truck Driver Shortage Analysis 2017 (PDF), he talked about how the current landscape of drivers is aging, with the average truck driver now being 49 years old.

At TransWay, similar to what is happening at Teddy’s Transport, the aging workforce is playing a role in the struggle and so is the overall perception of being a truck driver.

“There is an aging workforce,” Van Wyk said. “Many veteran drivers are simply retiring and some of the younger workforce may have been influenced by an incorrect negative perception of the industry.”

While part of the issue lies in the aging workforce, there are issues on the other end of the spectrum as well.

“I think the restrictions we have on us by our insurance companies make it difficult to hire,” Zeerip said. “Most of them require a driver to be 23 years of age, have a minimum of two years of driving experience and have less than three points on their Motor Vehicle Report.”

The other issue lies in the fact interstate driving currently has a minimum age of 21, which stops companies from recruiting ages 18 through 20.

“We can’t recruit high school graduates because of this age requirement from insurance,” Zeerip said. “Also, the federal government states you have to be 21 to cross state lines. Even if you could hire a high school graduate, they would have to drive only in the state you are domiciled in.”

Another issue Costello brought up in his report is how the female demographic is not equally represented. Although females make up about 47% of U.S. workers, they only make up about 6% of truck drivers.

Van Wyk agreed with those statistics and said despite the efforts of the company, their labor force of female drivers currently is at 5.5%.

“Many of our female drivers have come to us as students and have gone through our ‘over the road’ finishing program,” Van Wyk said. “When we recruit at driving schools, we make a point of reaching out and encouraging the female drivers to evaluate if TransWay would be a good fit for them.”

At a time when keeping drivers is crucial for local companies, Van Wyk said TransWay is now doing different things to remain competitive.

“Retention is very important,” he said. “TransWay is highly focused on a positive company culture for drivers, flexible home time, newer equipment with driver comforts and safety features, competitive pay and increased pay with longevity.”

For Teddy’s Transport, the emphasis is placed on their culture.

“We emphasize that drivers are part of our family, they aren’t treated like a number and they get to spend way more time with their family when they work for us versus other carriers,” Zeerip said.

Despite the incentives, the truth is younger generations are finding other careers more appealing.

“What is happening is that younger adults are not getting into driving,” said Doug Walcott, president of Premier Freight. “It is just not what they want to do. I think that there are plenty of jobs out there where they can work 40 hours a week, be home every night and be with their family.”

Walcott said at Premier Freight, many of their drivers are gone five or six days in a row which makes it really a 24-hour a day job.

“To many of these younger adults, there is just no interest in it because they can find jobs where they make close to the same amount of money and be home every night,” Walcott said.

To try and overcome the shortage of drivers, local companies are using different methods to attract talent.

At Teddy’s Transport, they rely on word of mouth recommendations and their reputation to attract talent. As for TransWay, they use things like referral bonuses, sign-on bonuses, a paid orientation program and an upgraded pay scale with documented driving experience.

“In reality, truck driving can be very rewarding with flexibility, independence and good pay,” Van Wyk said. “Truck driving has become much more technology advanced being a good fit for today’s tech savvy generations.”

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Founder steps down

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Businessman Barry Smith (right), founder of Smith Transport, is stepping down after 35 years as president of the company. Another Smith, Todd — not related — will take over.

ROARING SPRING — Todd Smith has a new job, and he likes the name of the company — Smith Transport.

Todd Smith, 54, who grew up in southeast Iowa, recently succeeded company founder Barry F. Smith as president of the Roaring Spring-based trucking company.

Barry Smith, who will turn 71 on Feb. 13, remains as CEO and chairman of the board of the company that he founded on July 7, 1982, along Route 867, near the Albright Church of the Brethren.

Barry Smith said he had been looking at a succession plan for several years.

“I’ve been trying to get Mr. Right from within the company. You try to make that happen, if you can’t find him you keep searching. Todd and I go back 15 years or so. I acquired an admiration for Todd over the years. We shared best practices for many years, this (transition) seemed to come natural,” Barry Smith said.

Barry Smith said Todd Smith — they are not related — had the proper attitude.

“To make the company grow and flourish, we needed someone who had a ‘can do’ attitude. Todd will make it happen,” Barry Smith said.

Barry Smith recommended Todd Smith to the board of directors.

“The board and I are confident that Todd will advance the mission and vision of our company to allow it to excel in the dedication to employees, customers and our community,” Barry Smith said.

“We are excited to tap into Todd’s experience and abilities. He has 25 years of executive management experience in the transportation industry and has established himself as a leader with integrity and exceptional insight that has led to the growth of an array of companies that have called upon him in the past,” he added.

Todd Smith most recently served as president/COO of Decker Truck Lines in Iowa.

“This was not a decision either one of us made overnight. We analyzed this for many years. I looked at the company and the person in charge — are my values and vision in line with his? If they are, great things should happen. I’ve got to know Barry as a person, an entrepreneur and as a businessman, and all of them aligned. It is a really good fit,” Todd Smith said.

As president, Todd Smith will handle the day-to-day operations.

“The president’s duty is to be accountable for the company’s day-to-day operations and report to the CEO and board to meet their goals. Barry’s role is to work with me more on the strategies. I’ll be using him as as mentor and sounding board and position us on our way to drive the company forward,” Todd Smith said. “It is like two heads driving the company forward instead of one. The goal is to grow the company significantly so we create more good jobs for the office and professional drivers.”

Smith Transport has grown from the five units that it had when it began operations.

“We are pushing 700 fleet-powered equipment (cabs) and 2,200 trailers,” Barry Smith said.

Today, Smith Transport employs more than 1,000 people in nine locations, including its Roaring Spring headquarters, and it has grown into a company that provides a complete line of logistics services to businesses located throughout the United States.

The company has achieved stable growth throughout the years.

“Now we intend to further grow the company,” Barry Smith said.

“We want to expand the company to meet today’s changing customer demand and professional drivers’ demands,” Todd Smith said.

The company’s employees have been the key to success.

“Our key to success has been the work ethic and the decisions of good people wanting to do the job. We have a lot of loyal people who have been here for 30-plus years. You have to have people with a ‘can do’ attitude who believe in the goals that were set to be accomplished,” Barry Smith said. “We don’t just hire drivers; we adopt them as family. Without drivers, we can all go home.”

In December 2014, Smith Transport became an employee-owned company.

“Employee ownership is the best direction for the future of Smith Transport. Sharing the success of the company with the employees is a great way to reward all of our dedicated employees, and it will serve as a great tool for driver recruitment and retention,” Barry Smith said at the time.

“With an ESOP, you reward the employees. They gain ownership of the company. They get rewarded for that by the value going up. It really creates teamwork. It is a little extra incentive to do things right the first time,” Todd Smith said.

Todd Smith is optimistic about the future of the company.

“The market will be good in the next few years for trucking. The challenge will be recruiting professional drivers. We are driver-centric, focused on the drivers. We will be as successful as our drivers are. If you position yourself properly, the good ones will come here,” Todd Smith said.

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Safety: A major concern for women in trucking

How safe do female truck drivers feel on the job? According to a WIT [Women in Trucking] Best Practices Survey conducted by Sawgrass Logistics and The Women in Trucking Association, female truck drivers rated how safe they felt in their job a 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 10.

The survey, which takes a deeper dive into what attracts female drivers into the industry and what makes them leave, was discussed during a live, call-in radio show called Women In Trucking on SiriusXM Road Dog channel 146. The weekly, two-hour show premiered on Saturday, Jan. 20.

“Women are inherently more risk averse than men,” explained Keera Brooks, president and CEO of Sawgrass Logistics. “So when you look at all the areas of safety, or risk, that come with this career it becomes clearer why this is such a large issue for women drivers.”

Brooks added that the survey included all aspects of safety on the job – personal, while driving and stopped, weather, equipment, infrastructure, and other drivers on the road.  

Women comprise only 7% of the workforce in trucking today. And with the industry experiencing an unprecedented truck driver shortage and a driver turnover rate that is the highest it’s been since 2015, many feel the industry needs to do better.

So when people ask Ellen Voie, president and CEO of The Women In Trucking Association (WIT), why there is a need for a Women In Trucking Association, her response is always: “If you’re happy with 7% female drivers and 14% of women in management, then you probably don’t think it’s important to encourage women to look at careers in this industry,” she told Fleet Owner. “But we aren’t satisfied with that.”

Voie recently started hosting the radio show, which airs every Saturday at 11 a.m. ET and addresses gender diversity issues in trucking and pushes for more women to join its ranks

The show features listener call-ins and interviews with professionals from the trucking industry – from drivers, technicians, and engineers to transportation CEOs and dispatchers. It also intends to help promote the employment of more women by identifying and removing the obstacles that keep them from entering the field.

When it comes to women entering the trucking industry, a vast majority of women – 83% – came into the industry because of a family member or friend. However, those same women haven’t recruited or recommended the industry to other women.

“Women feel that they’re not treated fairly,” Voie said, noting this is based on information coming from WIT members. “They feel that dispatchers treat them less fairly than their other male counterparts and that treatment by other men isn’t always the best.”

Brooks explained there is no silver bullet really when it comes to attracting drivers, particularly women, into the industry. But she did highlight some things that make it more difficult to recruit new female drivers – personal safety concerns, corporate culture at carriers, lack of women in existing roles, lack of referring women into the industry, and ongoing support and mentorship.

“It is critically important to look at this as a collective shift that must occur across the entire industry,” Brooks said. “Those who are at the forefront will have a competitive advantage over other companies resistant to change. Our industry needs to understand that this is not a quick fix that is easily solved with a marketing campaign. All areas of the driver lifecycle must be engaged in change in order to sustain long-term improvements and truly move the needle in increasing the percentage of women drivers.” 

According to Brooks, here are some best practices carriers can follow:

• Recruiting/Marketing – Investigate efficacy of a driver referral program. Update website or marketing collateral with 50/50 split showing women in the role so they can visualize themselves there.
• CDL Training – Employ both male and female driver trainers. Go outside the industry to bring in more female trainers, increase online training to enable remote education when possible, and implement mentor program for students to establish support early on and increase confidence.
• New Hire Orientation – Do not automate post-orientation follow up through survey or third party – women want human connection. Enable more online orientation when possible to limit, and enable dependent care requirements (dependent care includes spouse and parent as well as children).
• Contributing Employee – Track employee satisfaction annually to measure and build action plans. Examine company culture to identify areas for improvement to create more inclusivity. Invest in terminal improvements aimed at increasing safety, bathroom availability, laundry and personal conveniences such as personal hygiene and beverages.

And use caution when offering sign-on bonuses. Though Sawgrass is a 3PL and doesn’t hire drivers directly, Brooks noted the company is aware that the industry is experiencing some of the highest driver turnover ever seen at around 90%.  To mitigate the high turnover, carriers have been offering sign-on bonuses to recruit drivers, which Brooks said has led to unintended consequences “with respect to short-sighted behavior from drivers playing the market and following the money.”

“Signing bonuses are abundant and turnover remains high,” she explained. “After looking at the data from the best practices study, I believe investing in the employees you have today and shaping the corporate culture towards becoming more inclusive will drive higher employee satisfaction and lead to more employee referrals in an industry where 83% of drivers say they were introduced into trucking by a family member or friend.” 

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