A lack of young talent, and by extension, a skills shortage, is among the prominent issues currently plaguing Australia’s road transport industry.
To combat this, the Western Roads Federation (WRF) has invested heavily in community engagement, most recently organising 10 students from Western Australia’s Belmont City College to tour Goldstar Transport facilities.
This tour saw students explore Goldstar Transport, meeting a variety of managers and employees from the operator’s workshops and loading yards, while also learning about various operations and machinery.
Additionally, the students enjoyed ride-alongs in the operator’s forklifts and top lift container handler.
This initiative was one of many that the Western Roads Federation has organised to increase engagement with the transport industry throughout the state. According to its CEO, Cam Dumesny, getting young people to engage with road transport is imperative for the industry’s future.
“We have to reconnect our youth to our industry,” he told Prime Mover.
“A massive part of that is getting them out to see what the industry looks like up close. Goldstar Transport was an excellent host, and Belmont City College was great to participate. The feedback we got was fantastic.”
WRF’s other initiatives have targeted a wide variety of demographics, showing them the possibilities of a career in road transport.
“We work with a lot of different schools in that area, and encourage more of them to come out and visit the industry,” Dumesny said.
“But we don’t stop there. We’re getting industry personnel to visit students, too, as well as early-release prisoners, and other demographics who need to see that a career in this space is not only possible, but accessible.
“We want to show the role our industry plays in society.”
To further address the lack of young talent and subsequent skills shortage in the industry, WRF recently met with Road Freight NSW (RFNSW).
“I read RFNSW had its state conference recently, in which the organisation spoke about their own concerns for the industry,” Dumesny said.
“So, I reached out, hoping to have a similar conversation, and we did.”
This conversation acknowledged the different economic conditions of Australia’s respective states and road transport industries, while also agreeing that in spite of these differences, the same issues are emerging.
In addition to a lack of young talent and a skills shortage, transport companies across the country are seeing rising fixed and operational costs that eat into their profit margins, as well as a higher level of operational risks in general.
In the face of these problems, Dumesny has expressed that change needs to start small.
“There’s now a general acceptance in the industry that we need to come together to address and fix these issues,” he said.
“But we can’t fix them all right now with a big-bang kind of solution. We need to start with small steps, identifying solutions to implement and navigating options.
“We have to get some small wins on the board and build confidence for drivers and operators. This will get us results, and start the process of fixing the industry.”
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