TRUCKERS ROLL
RI’s truck drivers in wartime mode’ working to keep store shelves stocked
PAWTUCKET Rhode Island Trucking Association President and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Maxwell says he envisions the association’s companies and 1 , drivers entering into a “wartime mode,” wherein they contribute to the rebuilding of society and infrastructure in the aftermath of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
While truckers may not be the life-saving personnel that healthcare workers are during this time of crisis, Maxwell fully believes that they are on the “front lines” of this battle against an invisible enemy, doing an “important part,” supporting the medical field by delivering equipment such as respirators or moving materials to build temporary hospitals or being there with a delivery of food and supplies at your neighborhood supermarket or big-box store.
“This is almost going to be a wartime supply chain,” Maxwell said in an interview with The Times on Monday. “In the short-term, we’re restocking shelves, but longer-term, we’re going to see us as we go into a wartime mode where we’re contributing to the rebuild of society and infrastructure « Once this passes, you’ll see domestic increase, that all falls on the backs of trucking. There will be a surge, trucking will be an integral part of that.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, as recently as a month ago, the trucking industry in Rhode Island was “softening a bit,” Maxwell said, saying “the loads were not as full as they were, a driver shortage was in place.”
But now, he’s anticipating a “tremendous boom” in which the industry will be taxed, which could be partially attributable to losing some drivers to sickness and the potential for “critical driver shortages.”
“Economically we’ll be fine, what long-term effects, that remains to be seen and that’s the case with any industry,” he said. “Short-term we’ll see a challenging time, but we’ll see a time of prosperity but keeping in mind that this