Bearing the Load

Trucking firms develop training programs to teach new drivers, fill worker demand

BY KRIS BEVILL

Trucks play a vital role in the movement of goods through the entire U.S., but for the isolated prairie communities scattered throughout the northern Plains, that role is amplified. In North Dakota, for example, half of the state’s communities are served exclusively by trucks and nearly 70 percent of manufactured tonnage moved within the state is transported by for-hire carriers, according to the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association.

Bakken oil producers also rely heavily on trucks and have further increased demand for trucks and drivers in the state. It is estimated that 2,300 truck trips are required to develop every Bakken well. Recently released projections suggest that at least 40,000 wells could be drilled in the Bakken and Three Forks formations over 20 years, and trucks are expected to continue to be a key requirement for well service and maintenance.

The reliance upon trucks to move goods and support oil production translates to good business for trucking firms in the area, but it also makes truck operators a valuable commodity, and many firms are struggling to find drivers to keep up with demand.

“Those needs for drivers, coupled with low unemployment, makes for kind of a tough situation for trucking companies to find help,” says Arik Spencer, executive vice president of the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association.

Indeed, North Dakota trucking firms have ample available openings for those holding commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to choose from. On April 11, a keyword search for “truck driver” on Job Service of North Dakota’s website showed 500 listings representing at least 857 openings within the state. Job Service’s April 1 online job openings report found that of the nearly 23,000 open jobs, the transportation and material moving sector had 2,294 job openings — more than any other non-military occupational group in the state. (Office and administrative support was a close sec- ond with 2,292 job openings.)

While the current need for drivers in North Dakota is apparent, the shortage of truck drivers has also been a nationwide issue for several years and is one of the industry’s biggest concerns. “A lot of the fleets in North Dakota and across the country have a portion of their trucks sitting idle because there are no drivers to drive them,” Spencer says.

He says industry estimates place the current nationwide shortage of drivers at about 30,000 and an estimated 100,000 replacement drivers are expected to be needed every year over the next decade to keep up with an anticipated increasing number of shipments and to offset a large number of retiring drivers. Meanwhile, firms everywhere must find ways to recruit new drivers whenever possible and battle constant turnover as in-demand drivers move freely from job to job.

Making Driving Attractive

The average annual salary for truck drivers in North Dakota is about $42,000, according to the NDMCA. Oilfield truck drivers can make two or three times that amount. Companies are adjusting their rates of pay to remain as competitive as possible within their area, but, there are additional ways trucking firms can make their workplace more appealing for new hires and existing drivers.

Up-to-date equipment is a benefit for drivers and Spencer says firms are investing in new equipment “as much as possible” to keep them happy. Some firms are also modifying routes in order to ensure that drivers can be home with their families more often, in some cases every night.

Some firms have taken an active interest in training young drivers to fill their supply line of new employees. Britton Transport, a trucking firm with about 120 drivers and locations in Grand Forks, N.D., and Sioux Falls, S.D., collaborated with parent company Bison Transport late last year to develop a training program to give new drivers the overthe-road experience needed to satisfy insurance requirements. The Britton Transport Finishing Program provides new drivers with in-cab instructor training for up to nine weeks, followed by other training phases to provide them the necessary two years of experience.

Senta Brookshire, safety and driver development director at Britton Transport, says although many firms are actively seeking drivers, new drivers often find it difficult to get jobs because they lack required experience. The program offered by Britton Transport is focused on helping drivers get past that hurdle, hopefully creating life-long employees in the process. Five drivers have so far signed on for the program and interest is growing, she says.

“Our insurance company has been extremely happy with it and so far it has been really successful,” she says, adding that the company has also reached out to community colleges and technical schools to further tap into the new driver market.

Britton Transport has also made veteran recruitment a priority. Brookshire says about 30 percent of the company’s truckers are former military members (herself included) and the company celebrates those employees with a veteran’s wall at the Grand Forks location. The company is also active with job placement groups like Hero 2 Hired and Troops to Truckers. “With cuts in the military, there is going to be a lot of people saying, ‘I don’t have a job. How do my skills translate?’ A lot of them are trucking positions,” she says. “To find that resource and pull those skills in and make them fit into your business is key and it’s a good thing to do.”

In early April, Brookshire says Britton Transport had only five open positions for drivers and had hired drivers to fill those openings, but she says maintaining a full driving staff has been difficult. The retention rate at Britton has been “fairly good,” but Brookshire admits the rate of churn is a common concern. “There are a lot of trucking companies and not a lot of drivers, so there are a lot that are shopping around,” she says. “They try one place and then move to another because they know they are a valued position, so they can go and test other things out easily and come back to a company, too, if they find out that one is better.”

The Bakken Effect

The infamous high wages of the Bakken oilfields have drawn many drivers away from the eastern side of the state and throughout the nation, but not all find the unique conditions of Bakken driving to be worth the money. Brookshire says Britton Transport has lost several drivers to higher-paying opportunities in the Bakken — all but one have returned.

For Britton’s drivers, quality of life and the high cost of living were significant factors in their decision to leave the oil patch. But for many drivers, a lack of preparedness for the conditions of North Dakota oilfield trucking can quickly drive new hires away. MBI Energy Services, an oilfield services trucking firm with more than 700 company drivers in North Dakota, has taken a proactive approach to readying new drivers for oilfield work. About four months ago, the company opened an elaborate training facility near Belfield, N.D., to provide drivers with hands-on experience under the watchful eye of a trainer before they are sent on to in-the-field training.

MBI spokesman Nate Jorgensen says the facility was built to provide drivers with a better understanding of oil- field work and experience as they transition into the oil patch. “There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds [of thousands], of individuals out there with a CDL that drive and may have a lot of experience, but that experience lies within the ability to operate the equipment we see driving on the roads every day,” he says.

Oilfield work is a specialized field, however, so traditional driving experience does not necessarily transfer. MBI’s facility is meant to train those individuals to operate safely and effectively, hopefully creating long-term oilfield drivers. “We significantly decrease the individuals that leave us based upon the ability to train them effectively and provide what they need to make a career, not just a job,” he says.

Jorgensen did not disclose the total cost of the training facility but says MBI has dedicated a “significant” amount of money to improving conditions for its drivers. The facility sits on 80 acres and is home to intensive weeklong training sessions where drivers are teamed with an instructor and introduced to oilfield-specific tasks and equipment, including fractionation tanks, water transfer processes and chaining tires. Sixteen drivers can participate in each weekly training session. In early April, Jorgensen estimated that 200 drivers had already successfully completed the facility training. Additional in-field training is provided for a period of up to 30 days following completion of the facility course.

MBI employs more than 800 company drivers at its locations in North Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Wyoming and is constantly adding new drivers. Jorgensen says the company currently has between 50 and 100 openings and it hopes to employ 850 company drivers by the end of May, with plans to continue growing. “I don’t think there’s a point where we plan on stopping,” he says.

All Roads Lead to Home

Of course, the shortage of workers in North Dakota isn’t confined to the transportation sector. A new initiative being launched by the state this month is focused on attracting new and former residents back to North Dakota to fill its many job openings.

The campaign, dubbed “Find the Good Life in North Dakota,” is a public-private partnership, funded by the state and Hess Corp., and will focus on five high-demand sectors, including transportation. “Trucking supports so many industries and businesses in the state that it only makes sense, and the demand is incredible,” says Beth Zander, workforce development director at the North Dakota commerce department.

Engineering, health care, energy skilled trades and information technology will round out the high-demand areas of focus for the campaign. The initiative will utilize digital, traditional and non-traditional marketing tactics to reach target audiences in states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Neighboring states as well as Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Alaska and Texas will be secondary targets for recruitment efforts.

In April, Zander said the campaign was still in the development stage, but that the initial phase would use digital marketing to provide specific information to potential workers based upon their location and area of interest. Veterans and military members will be a specific focus of the campaign, as will college and trade school students in Minnesota and other areas. “We fully expect that we’ll try things and change them as needed,” she says.

A similar workforce recruitment campaign in South Dakota last year produced mediocre results and has been revamped slightly to place greater emphasis on attracting former residents rather than convincing new residents to give the state a try. North Dakota is very aware of its southern neighbor’s efforts and plans to focus more heavily on people with a previous connection to the state from the start, according to Zander. “They know what it’s like to live here versus convincing someone who is from three states south of us, wondering if we all freeze to death in the winter,” she says.

For the trucking industry, a life on the road means many firms don’t have to rely on in-state workers to fill their open jobs and so a worker recruitment campaign may not significantly impact their need for drivers. Britton Transport’s Brookshire says her firm recruits drivers from throughout the country, so bringing former residents back to North Dakota isn’t a factor for its drivers. However, the company has multiple administrative positions and has found it more difficult to fill those openings in recent years, so a worker recruitment campaign could be useful in that way.

Ahead of the initiative’s roll-out, NDMCA’s Spencer was also cautiously optimistic that it would help to alleviate workforce issues throughout the state. “It can’t hurt,” he says. “Obviously when we have more jobs than we have people, we need to do something. So I think it’s worth giving a try.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com