Revenues of road freight carriers have been stagnating due to shortage of drivers
Revenues of road freight carriers have been stagnating lately despite solid economic growth and rising demand. Their key challenges are the shortage of drivers and their rising wage demands. The truckers’ union, Česmad, estimates that carriers are short of 3,000 drivers. The cost of insurance and fuel is rising too. All this reduces the carriers’ profits.
One of the consequences is stagnation in the sale and leasing of trucks. Trucks account for about a fifth of the overall leasing market. In 1-3Q of this year, their leasing only increased 1% to €350m. Some companies have already indicated to leasing firms that they won’t be able to continue their leasing payments, as they lack drivers to run the trucks.
