The PMTC recently conducted an anonymous survey, through survey monkey, to try and ascertain the vaccination rate of Canada’s truck driving workforce. The survey was sent out to PMTC Members and contacts and ran from November 26th until November 29th. After bad data was flushed out, we ended up with 41 valid fleet responses. A summary of the data is below.
35 of the 41 Fleets are cross border carriers. 9 of the 41 fleets, or 21.95%, indicated they either already have a vaccine mandate, or plan to have one in place by January 15th, 2022. The smallest fleet to respond to the survey had 5 drivers, while the largest fleet had 3,000 drivers. The highest vaccination rate for a fleet was 100% (a 220-driver domestic fleet), while the lowest vaccination rate was 12% (a 25-driver cross border fleet)
Cross Border Fleets
Total drivers represented by the 35 cross border fleets who completed the survey is 6,123. The largest fleet had 3,000 drivers, while the smallest had 10 drivers. Currently, 4,118, or 67.3% of the drivers, are fully vaccinated. By January 15th, fleets expect this number to rise to 4,536 drivers, or 74%. If the vaccine mandate for essential travellers was delayed until April 15th, fleets expect the vaccination numbers to rise to 4,940, or 80.7%. 8 of the 35 fleets either have a vaccine mandate in place, or plan to have one by January 15th, 2022.
If we assume these numbers are representative of the vaccination rate of the entire Canadian Cross Border Trucking community, which represents 120,000 drivers, on January 15th, we will see 26%, or 31,200 drivers exit the industry. If the border vaccination mandate was moved back until at least April 15th, we would see 19%, or 22,800 drivers exit the cross-border industry.
Canadian Domestic Fleets
6 Canadian only fleets responded to the survey. Total drivers represented for these 6 carriers is 1,263. The smallest fleet had 5 drivers, while the largest had 600 drivers. Currently 1030, or 81.6% of these drivers are fully vaccinated. Fleets expect this number to rise to 1060, or 83.9% by January 15th, and increase to 1090, or 86.3% by April 15th. 1 of the 6 fleets indicated they have or will have a vaccine mandate in place by January 15, 2022.
Total Sum
If we group all 41 carriers together who responded to the survey, total drivers represented totals 7,386. Of these, 5,148, or 69.7% are currently vaccinated. The number is expected to rise to 5,596, or 75.8% by January 15th, and 6030, or 81.6% by April 15th.
