The COVID-19 pandemic has created a backlog of the supply chain in the United States to one of the worst positions it’s been. To help combat this supply chain issue, the American Trucking Association predicts the industry will need to hire at least 60,000 truck drivers to meet the demand nationwide. Fox News visited GDA’s Conyers Campus this past week to discuss the need for Class A CDL drivers and the training we provide.
Almost Everything Travels on a Truck
At some point in the supply chain process, everything we buy, consume, and need travels on a truck to get to us. Brad Barber, President of Georgia Driving Academy, said: “over 70 percent of all goods shipped in the country are carried by truck.” Richard Sneden, a truck driver for SAIA, was also interviewed in the article. He added, “At some point in time, everything in this country has to go on a truck – the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the gas you put in your car.”
The Growing Driver Demand
The trucking industry is trying to meet the demand, but the gap continues to increase. Even though people are applying for driving positions, they must first go through training to get their CDL. GDA helps train many students every year to meet the demand and even has two locations in Georgia for students to train at. Barber mentioned that COVID forced many schools around the country to limit class sizes. Ultimately, there were around 50,000 fewer drivers trained in total.
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