Truck driver Yuichi Tomita has been delivering packages all over Japan for two decades, often clocking 40 straight hours on the road.
The work is tough, but a source of pride, he said, adding that he has never thought of quitting — until now.
On April 1 next year, the Japanese government would limit truck drivers’ annual overtime to 960 hours, along with other reforms officials have said are meant to improve the job’s notoriously grueling conditions and make it more attractive.
Photo: REUTERS
However, the law would instead lead to an exodus from an occupation that requires most people to work extra hours to pay bills, Tomita said.
That has sparked fears of what those in retail and logistics call the “2024 crisis” — a critical shortage of truck drivers that, if unaddressed, could leave one-third of all cargo undelivered and result in a potential ￥10 trillion (US$75.8 billion) hit to the world’s third-largest economy by 2030..
“I’ve been doing this job for 20 years and you just can’t make ends meet on base pay alone,” said Tomita, a second-generation trucker and father of a three-year-old. “I really think this crisis is going to threaten Japan’s economy and families like ours.”
Drivers make ￥4.46 million per year on average. That is about 10 percent below the average for all industries despite working 20 percent longer hours.
An expected drop-off in the number of truck drivers would set off a domino effect for farmers, shops and diners accustomed to next-day delivery of fresh fish and produce.
The global consultancy Roland Berger expects a 20 percent decline in the number of Japanese truck drivers in the decade to 2030.
“Simply put, people in Tokyo will have no means to get fresh vegetables or fish from Kyushu [in southern Japan] and other far-off regions,” Roland Berger partner Masashi Onozuka said. “That could affect consumer spending and other areas too.”
About 98 percent of Japan’s 62,000 trucking companies — responsible for delivering almost all of the country’s cargo — are small operations. Fierce competition and high fuel prices mean truck drivers are squeezed despite an acute labor shortage.
A recent government survey showed trucking companies were able to pass on only 19 percent of their cost increases, compared with 47 percent for small and medium-sized firms. That would make it difficult for small companies to hire to make up for the lower number of legal working hours per driver.
Underscoring the difficulties smaller players face, the Fair Trade Commission in December last year named 13 firms that it said abused their superior bargaining power to refuse price increase requests from smaller contractors and suppliers.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month instructed his Cabinet to come up with “drastic” measures by June to address the crisis. A dedicated lane on a 100km stretch of highway connecting Tokyo and Nagoya for self-driving trucks and a flight route for delivery drones are planned for the next fiscal year.
Some retailers have devised ways to soften the impact. Convenience store operator Lawson would reduce deliveries of lunch boxes to twice a day from three times for all outlets by April next year. Supermarket chain operators Summit, Maruetsu, Yaoko and Life Corp agreed to allow an extra day for delivery and reduce overnight shipping.
However, many far-flung producers have no plan. Farmers and fish wholesalers from Kyushu to the northernmost island of Hokkaido fear for their livelihood and local economies if there are not enough drivers.
The town of Uwajima on the western island of Shikoku could wither without trucks to deliver its amberjack by 2am to Tokyo’s main fish market, Ehime Fishers Cooperative official Masaaki Iwamori said.
“If the fish aren’t ready in time, they lose their freshness when they’re auctioned the next day” at a significant discount, he said. “Maybe once consumers start noticing the drop in quality, they’ll share the sense of crisis.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
A highway bomb attack in a restive region of southwestern Colombia on Saturday killed 14 people and injured at least 38, the latest spate of violence ahead of next month’s presidential election. Authorities blamed the attack in the Cauca department — a conflict-ridden, coca-growing region — on dissidents of the now-disbanded FARC guerrilla army, who have been sowing violence across the country. “Those who carried out this attack ... are terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on social media. “I want our very best soldiers to confront them,” he added. The leftist leader blamed the bombing
From post offices and parks to stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s vending machines are ubiquitous, but with the rapid pace of inflation cooling demand for their drinks, operators are being forced to rethink the business. Last month beverage giant DyDo Group Holdings announced it would remove about 20,000 vending machines — about 7 percent of their stock nationwide — by January next year, to “reconstruct a profitable network.” Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, based in Nagoya, also said last month it would sell its 40,000-machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co. “The strength of the vending machine
RSS