Better Wages for Truckers may Improve Supply Chain

Better Wages for Truckers may Improve Supply Chain

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

Getting US agriculture products to their intended buyers in a timely manner may require higher wages for truckers and warehouse workers, according to the chairman of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission.

Kristen Monaco, director of the FMC’s Bureau of Trade Analysis told commissioners during a recent hearing that truck drivers are generally not paid for the time they spend waiting, and long waits hurt efficiency.

Monaco: “ That becomes problematic. If you anticipate that between 20% and 30% of a long haul or a drayage driver’s time is spent waiting to get in and out of a loading dock to pick things up to get in the port gates and that waiting time ratio goes up to 50%, it’s not that you don’t have enough people, it’s that you’ve effectively taken away your capacity of the people. Think of it as reducing your labor supply but having the same number of people there because you’re just not making use of their time. That is an inefficiency that is not currently paid which means there is very little economic incentive to fix that inefficiency.”

Grace Wang, Director of Competition Analysis for the FMC, showed data that indicated a sharp drop in agricultural exports, including a 38% drop in cotton exports between July 2019 and July 2021.

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