Sonwil's Jason Ickert on Santa & the supply chain

Recently, Buffalo Business First spoke with our own Jason Ickert on the mission to help deliver presents in time for the holidays. Read on below, or visit Buffalo Business First, to find out what Jason and other local industry leaders have to say about the supply chain delays that have Santa worried.

The 'freightmare' before Christmas: Supply chain and labor shortages are stalling the trucking industry

John Moczydlowski, driver supervisor, Sonwil, drives a tractor trailer. Moczydlowski was the company’s first hire. JOED VIERA

By?Katie Anderson??–??Reporter, Buffalo Business First

Jack Mathison, owner of Expedite Transportation Inc. in Buffalo, has been short two full-time drivers for about three months. To make up for it, he’s had to spend 30 to 60 hours a week behind the wheel of his trucks.

“The median age for a truck driver is 58,” Mathison said. “Guys are retiring left and right and there’s no one to take their place. We’re headed for a crash.”

Driver shortages are not a new problem for the trucking industry, though the national labor shortage has magnified that. Those shortages along with supply-chain holdups are causing a “freightmare,” as logistics companies struggle to find enough drivers and trucks to meet demand.

Almost all products sold in the United States will be on a truck at some point, meaning the economic impacts of a driver shortage are severe: higher costs and longer wait times for businesses already facing supply chain challenges.

“Take a look around your home or office at all the different items,” said?Craig Turner, president of the World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara. “It’s very eye opening. Everything we wear or eat was all on a truck at one point or another. Workforce funding is designed for life sciences and manufacturing, but nobody thinks about logistics.”

"Heading for a crash"

As demand across industries increases, trucking companies are doing what they can to keep up. But that’s easier said than done, since most have dealt with a shortage of drivers for more than a decade.

“There’s been a chronic driver shortage for many, many years,” said?Brian Kimmins, owner of Buffalo Transit Co. in Buffalo. “The single biggest threat to the U.S. economy is the acute driver shortage.”

Kimmins employs 30 people, 22 of them truck drivers. His company is considered general freight, transporting everything except food products or hazardous materials, he said. About 70% of his business is transports to and from Canada.

“Our industry is harder than it’s ever been, and I’ve been in it 47 years. I thought it would get easier, but it’s gotten harder,” Kimmins said. “You have older drivers who are going to be retiring, and no one is coming up behind them. We lost a generation of kids. College was the answer for everybody.”

Mathison employs 22 people, 16 of them drivers. The farthest his company drives is about 500 miles, but he only has four drivers who work “over-the-road” trips, where they’re spending nights on the road.

“There’s been driver stealing too,” he said. “I lost one of my senior drivers to a company that offered him a $10,000 signing bonus and $30 an hour. They’re a larger corporation so they can afford it, but I just can’t do that.”

Steven’s Truck School has been fielding calls from companies asking for more drivers, according to?Andrew Streit, executive director of operations for the West Seneca company.

“I just don’t think we can spit them out fast enough,” Streit said.

The school does one-on-one training for the 30-hour commercial driver's license (CDL) course. The truck-driving school has been open five years, and has only seen growth in that time, he said. Though it shut down for 15 weeks during the pandemic, Streit said he didn’t see a drop in students after that.

Streit is worried new requirements from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Entry-Level Driver Training could impact the number of truck drivers. Those additional requirements will take effect in February.

“It may be more classroom and instruction work or a written test or something,” he said. “Everyone is looking for drivers right now, but if you make it more difficult for drivers to get their license, you’ll have a bigger shortage I think.”?

A few years ago, advertising for truck drivers was an expense every so often, Kimmins of Buffalo Transit said. Now it’s a fixed expense since he has to advertise for truck drivers 50 weeks of the year.

“Even if by chance I don’t have an opening, I’ll find room for them – that’s how hard it is to find them,” he said.

Navigating bumps in the road

Kimmins said other shortages impacted the industry such as a shortage of mechanics to work on the trucks.

“There are several dealerships where you have to book a week or two down the road, because they don’t have enough mechanics to work on them,” he said.

The costs for maintenance, parts and trucks are rising, and delivery is taking longer. Kimmins ordered five new trucks in February that were supposed to arrive in August. One arrived in September, and the rest are waiting on parts that have been listed on “critical back order,” he said.

“You can’t look at one challenge by itself, because all of the challenges together affect the driver experience,” Kimmins said. “Drivers don’t want to be in trucks that are always breaking down. Drivers don’t want to be waiting for hours and hours in shops for a job that should only take 20 minutes.”

Jason Ickert, president, Sonwil Logistics and Transportation. JOED VIERA

On top of that,?Jason Ickert, president of Sonwil Transportation & Logistics in West Seneca, said his drivers are frustrated with wait times at docks.

“Some of the warehouses that we’re picking up from, they’re experiencing a labor shortage,” he said. “There are not enough people in production or in loading to get the job done. Orders are late and not ready for the truck to pick up. It slows down the trucks, and the whole supply chain gets disrupted because of factors out of the driver’s control.”

Ickert started at Sonwil in April, but grew up in the industry, as his father was a truck driver. Sonwil has been a logistics company since 1983 and has about 53 tractors and 283 trailers. A big part of the company’s portfolio is transporting goods from New York to Canada and back.

Costs have gone up for the company this year, for insurance, fuel and labor.

“Some people say there’s a truck driver shortage, others will say there’s a lack of dollars you’re willing to pay the drivers,” Ickert said.

Paving a smoother way

Improving the driver’s experience is at the root of any solution, Ickert said. Higher wages are only the beginning. Ickert said Sonwil provides efficient drivers to earn pay bonuses.

“Some people pay by the mile, and it often doesn’t make them enough money,” he said. “There’s a lot of driver turnover out there. You have to think about why drivers leave and how can we improve driver retention?”

Mathison of Expedite Transportation has been offering between $4,000 and $6,000 signing bonuses for drivers, but it’s gotten him nowhere. He's hired three people who didn’t have their CDLs yet, and put them through the required training as part of onboarding.

“That has been marginally successful for us,” he said.

In the next five years, Mathison said, driverless trucks could be the answer to the driver shortage.

“There are driverless trucks on the road now, but in very limited applications,” he said. “There is no short-term answer. There’s just not enough people.”

Turner said companies and educators should work together to create workforce programs to support the industry such as logistics apprenticeship programs.

“It’s about encouraging the workforce of the future and educating people on the industry,” he said.

A healthy work/life balance is a major selling point in the labor market right now, and truck drivers are no exception. That’s why Turner said more logistics and trucking companies may want to consider options for shorter trips.

“Staying close to home is a good piece of that,” he said. “The sales pitch is that not only do you make good money and see the country, but you get to sleep in your own bed at night.”

Ickert said Sonwil’s local drivers are home every night, regional drivers every other night, and long-distance drivers every weekend.

Ensuring time at home for drivers has been essential for Buffalo Transport as well, Kimmins said, since his drivers don’t work weekends. His company typically transports goods in the Southern Ontario, Western New York, Rochester and Erie, Pennsylvania regions so “drivers start here in the morning and finish here at night,” he said.

“Years ago in this industry, the most important thing we had was our customer,” Kimmins said. “Not anymore, and that doesn’t diminish the importance of the customer because they pay the bills. But at the end of the day, if you don’t have employees or you have poor employees, you’re not going to have any customers, so they jump to the top.”

Kimmins said recruiting employees and drivers often requires higher pay and better benefits, but retaining those employees demands a good work culture.

“Our drivers make meaningful contributions to our company, and we let them know that every day,” Kimmins said. “You have to work hard at it every day to find and recruit employees, but most importantly you have to work hard to keep the employees you already have.”

Just as every industry has, trucking and logistics will need to adjust to a new normal, whatever that may look like in the coming months, Ickert said.

“Can we work together as an industry to keep the wheels on the trucks turning?” he said.

Buffalo Business First