The strong US economy has produced lively demand for logistics providers over the past two years, but it has also strained their resources. Combined with a growing number of retirements as the baby boomer generation heads for the exits, the rising volume of freight makes logistics firms scramble to find new staff.

It is an endeavour of frustration. Recruits are hard to find, expensive to hire and tough to retain. The much-publicized shortages of pilots and truck drivers have driven up costs of airlines and road carriers, but they are only the visible part of the problem. Longshoremen and warehouse staff are also in short supply.

One airport executive noted that construction projects to expand or refurbish passenger facilities have drawn some warehouse staff to the construction industry. As they already have clearance to work on-airport, they are very attractive to construction firms, he said.

Forwarders and customs brokers are also struggling to keep their staffing levels sufficiently high to avoid service deterioration or loss of business. According to some studies, there are six available jobs for every qualified supply chain manager in the US, DHL Supply Chain reported.

“In the US it’s very difficult to attract the right people to work for forwarders or customs brokers,” says Bob Imbriani, executive vice president-international of forwarder Team Worldwide and a director of the US Airforwarders Association.

The problem is not confined to the US. According to the report from DHL Supply Chain published this past summer, the talent shortage is being felt around the globe, in almost every region and industry sector.

“The problem is particularly acute in developing countries, where companies struggle to find people who possess the right mix of knowledge of the local market and supply chain expertise,” the authors wrote.

The study argues that there is no single cause for the malaise. It is shaped by a mix of demographics, changes in the required skill set, lack of training programmes and cost cutting measures, the authors found.

While the recent strength of the US economy has been a factor lately, this is expected to abate as the momentum slows. Demographics, on the other hand, suggest a worsening scenario ahead. Pointing to the projected numbers of retirements in the coming years, Imbriani warned that the gap between open management positions and qualified staff is going to grow.

Potential recruits often do not have the appropriate skill set, he remarked. The rise of technology to automate functions has raised the bar in terms of technological sophistication, which is reinforced by expectations from the customer side, Imbriani noted.

From the vantage point of e-commerce providers, traditional logistics experience may actually get in the way. A logistics executive from a large e-commerce provider winced at the term “supply chain management,” arguing that e-commerce is driven by the customer. In lieu of a supply chain this segment requires a demand chain built on the understanding of the consumers’ requirements and how the logistics integrate with that, he stated.

Only 30% of his team is made up of employees with experience in logistics, whereas 70% are operational researchers or mathematicians, he pointed out, adding that he found it easier to teach tech people about logistics than the other way round.

According to the DHL Supply Chain report, logistics is not widely seen as a positive career move, which the authors attribute in part to a low profile of the sector in academia. Closer collaboration of the logistics industry with colleges to provide in-class supply chain education could go some way towards changing this, they think.

Those students who pursue logistics are more likely to seek a position with a large shipper than with a logistics provider, Imbriani said.

“Forwarding is not very glamorous,” he said. “It is an industry that works 24/7; it’s not a nine-to-five job.”

The DHL Supply Chain report argues that recruitment and employee retention should be approached with the same systematic style as business operations.

“As an industry, it’s become critical to bring the same operational excellence we apply to managing product movement to recruiting and retaining human resources. More focused, professional recruiting, supported by automated processes that extend from application to pre-hire testing to onboarding, has proven effective at expanding the number of qualified applicants for open positions and can be particularly valuable when an organization is preparing to ramp up to meet high seasonal demand,” the authors wrote.

At the Intermodal Europe conference, some delegates highlighted another strategy to expand the talent pool – recruiting more women. A study conducted by HR Consulting in 2018 found that less than 1% of the companies polled had women in executive positions.

By Ian Putzger

Correspondent | Toronto