Carriers chase after a diminished pool of owner-operator candidates with higher pay, bonuses and more compensation options.
Marten Transport leases about 100 owner-operators but would like to double that number over the next year.
Prime Inc. works with approximately 3,000 independent contractors and expects to grow that total 8 percent to 14 percent into 2012, says John Hancock, director of recruiting. “The market is asking for more capacity than is out there,” he says.
More than 120 owner-operators are leased to Barr-Nunn Transportation, and the Granger, Iowa-based carrier aims to increase its capacity. “If we could go to 200 owner-operators, we would,” says Jeff Blank, recruiting director.
These and other carriers are competing for a pool of qualified operators that has been shrinking because of the recession, growing government regulations and retiring drivers. “I don’t see that number increasing,” Blank says. “It’s hard to say where they’re going to come from.”
With the recession’s end and an increase in freight, many carriers are posting bonuses, hiking pay and offering other inducements to sign owner-operators.
The quality of unaffiliated driver prospects is “marginal at best,” says Gordon Klemp, president of National Transportation Institute, who has been tracking driver compensation for 16 years. Plus, the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program and other regulatory efforts are further whittling the ranks of operators.
