From seafarers refusing to get back aboard ships to truck drivers whose concerns over border closures due to COVID-19 trump the lure of higher pay, the transport industry is bracing for another roller-coaster year of supply-chain disruptions.
As infections from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 surge and governments tighten restrictions, logistics companies around the world, from global giants to small businesses, cannot find enough staff.
According to the International Road Transport Union, about one-fifth of all professional truck driving jobs are unfilled, despite many employers offering increased wages. Segments of the shipping industry are also becoming concerned about finding the workers they need.
Photo: Reuters
“Next year is shaping up to be another year of severe disruption, under supply 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 forces and healthcare-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.
Companies have said that some people, faced with long weeks of quarantine combined with the precarious nature of crossing borders and fears of getting sick, are refusing contracts, while others are looking elsewhere for work.
In Romania, many truck drivers do not want to accept long-haul jobs into other parts of Europe, stung by last year’s 48km traffic jams and waits of up to 18 hours at EU borders.
Countries where infections are surging are particularly problematic, said Alex Constantinescu, CEO of Alex International Transport 94 SRL, which operates 130 trucks that deliver pharmaceutical and food products throughout the eurozone.
Faced with a driver shortage before the COVID-19 pandemic, the trucking industry’s labor crisis has become more acute, Constantinescu 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,” Constantinescu said.
In the UK, the ranks of heavy goods vehicle drivers declined by 23 percent, or about 72,000 people, in the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2019, Logistics UK data show.
In China, it is the fear of draconian quarantines due to the government’s “COVID-zero” strategy that is keeping drivers away. Just last week, the entire western city of Xian, 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 (李沭福), 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,” Lee added.
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 expiry of their contracts in the middle of last month, a drop from 9 percent in the middle of July, according to the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator — companies cannot entice them back.
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