Driver shortages and CPC are the most challenging issues faced by transport managers, according to a Freight Transport Association survey.

The poll of 265 O licence-nominated transport managers, carried out in July this year, highlights the impact these issues are having on their role. 

Results are published in the third annual Transport Manager Survey, available to delegates at FTA’s Transport Manager conferences. 

It provides a comprehensive overview of transport managers’ assessment of the state of the industry and the role that they play in UK logistics. 

The results highlight the on-going issues of driver shortage, an ageing workforce, barriers to recruiting young people into the industry, inadequate roadside facilities and congested roads.

Driver recruitment and retention has continued to be a major issue for transport managers this year. 

More than 46 per cent reported that in recent months they were either unable to fill HGV driver vacancies or had experienced long delays in doing so.  A majority of transport managers anticipated a shortage of drivers in the near future, with most blaming retirement as the greatest contributing factor.  This is consistent with the number expecting to retire in the next five years.

More than three-quarters of the transport managers surveyed were over 45 years of age (76 per cent), none of the respondents were under the age of 24 and the number under the age of 34 had fallen slightly this year from six per cent to five per cent of the transport manager population.  This highlights the continuing need to attract new transport managers to the industry at a younger age.  Significantly, 34 per cent of respondents indicated that they are planning to leave the industry in the next five years, increasing sharply from 23 per cent last year.