From seafarers refusing to get back on ships to truck drivers whose concern over COVID-related border closures trumps the lure of higher pay, the transport industry is bracing for another roller coaster year of supply chain disruptions, reports the Boston Globe.
Omicron infections surge
As Omicron infections surge and governments tighten restrictions, logistics companies around the world, from global giants to small businesses, can’t find enough staff. According to the International Road Transport Union, around one-fifth of all professional truck driving jobs are unfilled, despite many employers offering increased wages. Some pockets of shipping are also sounding the warning bell about future hiring prospects.
“2022 is shaping up to be another year of severe disruption, undersupply, and extreme cost for cargo owners,” said Simon Heaney, an analyst at maritime research consultancy Drewry. “The virus is once again showing it’s in charge,” he said, predicting another 12 months of stretched labor and health care-related red tape.
As the Omicron variant takes hold, workers who deliver goods on ships and trucks are shouldering the brunt of a supply chain infrastructure still mired in chaos. Faced with long weeks of quarantine combined with the precarious nature of crossing borders and fears of getting sick, some people are refusing contracts while others are looking for work elsewhere, companies say.
Supply chain disruptions
In Romania, many truck drivers don’t want to accept long-haul jobs into other parts of Europe, stung by last year’s 30-mile traffic jams and waits of up to 18 hours at EU borders. Countries where infections are surging are particularly problematic, according to Alex Constantinescu, CEO of Alex International Transport 94 SRL, which operates 130 trucks that deliver pharmaceutical and food products throughout the continent.
Already faced with a driver shortage before the pandemic, the trucking industry’s labor crisis has become more acute, he said. The company has had to raise wages by about 30 percent over the past three years.
“Long hours on the road, sleeping in the cab, and now not knowing if the people you interact with have the virus — truck driving isn’t very attractive anymore,” said Constantinescu, who founded the company 27 years ago. “I look behind me and I can’t see any new generation of drivers. The pandemic has made this work very unattractive.”
Heavy goods vehicles slumped
In the United Kingdom, the ranks of heavy goods vehicle drivers slumped by 23 percent, or around 72,000 people, in the second quarter compared to 2019, data from Logistics UK show. In China, it’s the fear of draconian quarantines due to the government’s COVID-zero strategy keeping drivers away. Just last week, the entire western city of Xi’an, population 13 million, went into a snap lockdown after 127 cases.
“China has very strict policy measures to control flare-ups and that’s making truck drivers unwilling to go to some areas where they might be quarantined,” said Salmon Aidan Lee, head of polyesters at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “These harsh measures have further contributed to supply chain issues, and some polyester factories have had to shut.”
Crew-change crisis
The shipping industry is facing similar labor challenges.
While the crew-change crisis that prevented seafarers from getting home and being replaced with fresh mariners has mostly eased — fewer than 5 percent of seafarers were onboard ships beyond the expiration of their contracts in mid-November, a drop from 9 percent in mid-July, according to The Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator — now companies can’t entice them back.
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Source: The Boston Globe
