Industry Looks to Puerto Rico As a Source of New Truck Drivers
Bring together an American trucking industry in desperate need of qualified drivers and a U.S. territory searching for ways to create jobs for its residents, and it just may be a match made in heaven.
The firm aims to provide 2,000 drivers for trucking and to generate $46 million in payroll for the Puerto Rican economy annually. While no one thinks this program alone will make a significant dent in the driver shortage that has stymied the industry for the last several years, some say it is a step in the right direction.
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That is the basic notion of World-Wide Solutions, a Puerto Rico-based consulting company that plans to train thousands of students for jobs with driver-starved carriers in the United States.
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“I think the [driver shortage] problem is too large for this one thing to make a big impact on it industrywide. But I’m certainly hoping that it will have a good impact for M.S. Carriers,” said Mike Reaves, senior vice president of driver services for the Memphis, Tenn.-based company.
