TRURO, N.S. — The owner of one Atlantic Canada’s largest for-hire carriers says the trucking industry has to start paying drivers up to $70,000 a year and be able to grant better schedule flexibility in order to keep drivers in their seats.

Wes Armour, president of Armour Transportation Systems told delegates at a transportation conference last week that waving higher pay and more comfortable lifestyles in front of current and potential truck drivers may be the only way to go about solving the professional driver shortage, reports the Chronicle-Herald.

Armour, whose firm operates about 2,500 pieces of equipment throughout North America, echoes the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s claim that the industry requires 37,000 new drivers a year just to maintain the status quo.

Because of insurance issues keep carriers from hiring students out of high school, Armour says fleets will have to pluck from other trade sectors. That’s a tough task considering many industries — without all the complications of trucking — are also paying more to attract workers.

“If we don’t get people from other trades, I don’t know where we are going to get drivers,” he was quoted as saying.

— from the Chronicle Herald