Transportation Department Doubles Grants to Train Veterans as Truckers

Transportation Department Doubles Grants to Train Veterans as Truckers
Trucking schools will receive $2.3 million to train military veterans and their relatives as truck and bus drivers
Trucking companies say they are having trouble recruiting enough drivers.
By Paul Page
Oct. 9, 2015 1:32 p.m. ET

The U.S. Department of Transportation is doubling the amount of money it grants schools this year for training military veterans and their relatives as commercial drivers, an increase that comes as the trucking industry says the need for new drivers is growing rapidly.

The DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Thursday it had awarded nearly $2.3 million in grants to 13 technical schools and community colleges across the country focusing on training for bus and truck drivers.

The American Trucking Associations released a report this week saying companies will need to hire 890,000 drivers over the next 10 years to replace retiring drivers and meet new demand.

Transportation research group FTR believes the need will be even greater, and FTR senior consultant Lawrence Gross says a combination of new demand and tougher hiring requirements will make it harder for trucking companies to recruit and retain drivers.

“Because of the projected demand, there is going to be tremendous requirement for new entrants into the driver pool, well in excess of what we have seen,” Mr. Gross said. “The ability of the industry to respond to that is really in question. 2017 is really when we will see that for first time in history folks may not be able to find the trucks they need.”

The largest grants of $200,000 each went to the training program at the North Carolina Department of Transportation and to the Central Technical Center in Drumright, Okla.