MEXICO- No authority investigated the disappearance of Geovanni Lara Hernández in Tula on December 12. The little that is known is that both the truck and the driver were taken by criminals. His family found out as best they could, with their own resources.
“We hope that they have abandoned him tied hand and foot, beaten but alive somewhere,” commented one of the relatives during the demonstration at the municipal presidency after a week of searching.
Geovanni transported stone material. He was accompanied by two security guards on the Tlahuelilpan – Tula highway, when armed individuals, aboard vehicles without license plates, intercepted them.
The guards were shot twice: one in the instep and the other in the thigh; They forced the driver to get off the truck, put him in one of the criminals’ cars and took him away; Others fled with the cargo.
Why kidnap him? This and other questions that the family asks are the same ones that trucker organizations and businessmen ask when it comes to calculating: why take the driver? Why worsen the conditions of transportation of goods in Mexico?
Without a precise answer, the only thing they are clear about is that, if they continue like this, The supply of goods and food in Mexico is in danger.
Drivers are becoming increasingly scarce in the country. According to the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation, Throughout 2023 there was a deficit of between 56,000 and 100,000 drivers.
“This affects everything from the alteration of supply chains from fuel (raw materials) to food,” they warned in January in a statement. The complaint continued throughout the year with various explanations and warnings.
Insecurity has been one of the factors that has affected the most. For example: while Geovanni’s relatives were protesting in Tula, another assault and theft of another tractor-trailer was reported near the place.
According to the Mexican Alliance of Transport Organizations (Amotac), In Mexico there are on average six assaults a day. One day last year, up to 50 were recorded. This 2023, 24 murders were recorded, two per month.
For many decades, thieves would take the merchandise, sometimes complete with vehicle, and abandon the driver somewhere, but in recent years they also run the risk of being killed or disappearing.
OTHER CAUSES
But violence is not the only factor explaining the shortage of freight drivers. The International Road Transport Organization (IOTC) maintains that At a global level there is disinterest in the new generations due to routines, exhausting schedules and low salaries.
The most industrialized countries are now betting on migrants. Businessmen from the United States hire Mexican drivers and that has further weakened the sector in this country.
The average salary for drivers in the US is between $38,000 and $45,000 per year. and companies like Walmart pay up to $110,000.
“In the US they are looking for Mexican trailer drivers offering visas,” acknowledged the president of Índex-Chihuahua, Román Rivas at an event for Mexican transporters in the middle of the year.
In Mexico, although salaries have increased due to the free market of supply and demand, they are still very low for the more than 1.1 million people who are dedicated to freight transportation.
A study by the Ministry of Economy published on the platform Data Mexico detailed that the 35% work without having a contract or contractual relationship with the companydoes not have benefits and the salary is only between 400 and 800 dollars a month, between 4,800 and 10,000 a year.
This is 10 times less than in the United States.
At its annual meeting, the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation in Mexico also recognized that more drivers are retiring every day and its fleet, which on average is 40 years old, is aging.
“The challenge of the sector at a regional level is the shortage of operators, and it is a challenge that will increase, the age of the operators is in the process of retiring or leaving the sector and the spaces will remain empty, plus those who leave to come,” warned José Medrano, president of the organization.
“We have to find people who want to take those places, because automation will come, but we will always need an operator.”
Cananar recognizes that around 10% of the companies’ truck fleet are stopped due to lack of drivers affecting, by far, the profitability of companies, but they do not find an effective solution.
For now, the National College of Technical Professional Education (known as Conalep and which operates throughout the country) announced the implementation of a new career “of the future”: the Bachelor of Motor Transportation Technical Professional.
According to Conalep, the implementation of this race starting last August is due to requests from businessmen due to the lack of cargo and fifth wheel motor transport operators in Mexico and the United States, mainly in Tampico, Ciudad Madero and Altamira.
Meanwhile, the debate on salary increases continues because employers believe that insecurity will continue to be an obstacle, even if they double payments.
Cirio Hernández, who was repatriated to Mexico after living 20 years in the United States, has worked in recent years in the coordination of long-distance cargo transportation in both Mexico and the United States and says that, although he is not trucker, The stress of monitoring vehicles on the southern side of the border is a thousand times greater.
“One day a driver called me to tell me that he was being robbed and I was just giving him some instructions when I heard the gunshots. It was very ugly not being able to do anything, the helplessness and knowing that someone could be dying and I was only listening on the phone.” remember. “
That’s why I asked for my change to monitor US units and now I’m calmer even though I’m not on the road.”
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