Coronavirus pandemic causes challenges for truckers
Truckers continued to be hit hard by COVID-19
The coronavirus continues to hit the trucking industry hard.
ATLANTA - Traffic on the roads is picking back up, but truckers who are deemed essential are not back to full force. There are a lot of businesses that are still closed and that means a lot of trucks are parked.
Jimmie James has been a truck driver for 35 years. He says life on the road used to be easy.
"Before the pandemic I would look forward to going inside, getting a shower, sitting down in a restaurant, and having a good meal," said James.
Now he skips the showers, brings his own food and life on the road is a bit lonelier.
"I try not to have any interaction with anybody. I don't know where they've been, they don't know where I've been. Really my only interaction with people is to get a receipt," said James.
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That's not the only change truckers are facing. Business has slacked off.
"We are making sure they can get the freight to move the trucks," said Lee Gentry with Bennett International Group, a trucking and logistics company headquartered in McDonough.
Gentry says with so many businesses closed during the pandemic, there's simply less to haul.
"Were trying to do everything in our power to keep our drivers loaded," said Lee.
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"Supply chains have slowed down a bit, with things not coming in from the borders," said Kris Rzepkowski with Bennett International Group.
Rzepkowski says times are challenging going for many in the industry from the owner/operators to companies with fleets that right now have trucks sitting idle.
"There definitely will be fleets that don't survive this crisis, the economics just don't make sense, just like airlines whose planes are on the ground," said Rzepkowski.
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