CALGARY — Shell Canada and the Heavy Duty Distributor Council of Canada (HDDC) are teaming up to help address the shortage of technical workers in the trucking industry with the introduction of the Heavy Duty Technician Scholarship.

The goal of the program is to provide financial assistance to Canadian students in a transport-related program to support the next generation of skilled workers.

Shell and the HDDC, a non-profit corporation serving the heavy-duty after market, will provide six regional scholarships of $1,000 each. Beginning this September, students enrolled in their second year of a transport-related program in a CAMPE institution, are eligible to apply for the scholarship. The recipients will be chosen based on their academic merit, financial need and desire to contribute positively to the future of the trucking industry.

“Shell is helping today’s students keep tomorrow’s fleet on the road,” said Les Markiewicz, general manager of Shell Commercial Sales and Marketing. “The scholarship is the first of its kind for the Canadian transport industry, and is our way of offsetting the financial challenges of training students pursuing a career in road transport.”