JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Supply chain problems, inflation and a truck driver shortages are all shifting into high gear on the First Coast.
Millions of dollars are now going to Florida State College at Jacksonville, so they can enroll 60 percent more students in their truck driving program.
That should get hundreds more drivers on the roads every year. The 'catch' is it won't happen right away.
Governor Ron DeSantis announced a $3 million grant Thursday that will go to FSCJ's Nassau County campus to construct a driving practice area like the one at its Cecil Center campus. This will add 120 more students. The Cecil Center Campus has 200.
Their commercial driver's license classes for the spring filled up in 90 minutes. The interest doesn't stop there. Brad Ball, the president at Roadmaster Drivers School, says their classes are just about full.
"We've never seen demand anything close to what it is right now," Ball said.
First Coast News asked Ball if he believes enrolling more truck drivers will help the supply chain problems.
"I think a bigger piece of what will help the supply chain problems is there's been record pay increases for drivers," Ball said.
Heavy trucks and tractor-trailer drivers make about $47,000 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, drivers get paid by the mile and Ball says many truck drivers make $60,000 quickly.
"I don't know of any other educational opportunity where people can go from unemployed, underemployed and uneducated to trained and employed within four to five weeks and on the road to making a pretty significant income," he said.
Yet with all the interest, the American Trucking Associations predicts the industry will soon be short twice as many drivers as they are now, which is 160,000 drivers short by 2030.
Many in the industry contribute this to the average age of drivers.
"The easy answer is that the average age of truck drivers is about 52 years old," he said. "Drivers are simply retiring at a faster rate than we're able to put students in school."