List of trucking companies that have either retrenched employees or closed down due to Covid-19

• Time freight
• Manline Freight
• Reinhardht Tipper Division
• Imperial Cargo
• Bogdans Dry Bulk
• Motorvia
• Vital Distribution

Time Freight closes operations on June 22 2020, leaving 1 388 people out of a job.

Manline Freight is retrenching 48 truck drivers. The company suspended the employer and employee payment of their provident fund but that was not enough to stop job losses.

Reinhardt Transport is consulting with its drivers about looming retrenchments as the transport giant faces the closure of its tipper division.

The company states that it has been operating at losses even before the Covid-19 pandemic. 111 truck drivers will be out of a job.

Imperial Cargo offloaded 591 employees in March 2020. Currently, the company is doing consultations with stakeholders after signalling that it no longer profitable to keep the business running. The number of employees affected is not yet known.

Bogdans Dry Bulk has retrenched 33 truck drivers.

Motorvia also retrenched all drivers doing short-haul. Long-distance truckers survived this one.

Vital Distributions also retrenched 200 truck drivers after losing a big contract.

Trucking industry Covid-19 jobs bloodbath

The trucking industry jobs bloodbath fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to rise.

To many companies, the pandemic was the final nail into their coffins as the underperforming South African economy was already making it difficult for businesses to survive.

Big trucking companies are suffering the most as they find it difficult to compete with smaller companies.

Imperial Cargo Managing Director Steven Smith said this while addressing staff on the imminent closure of the company’s general freight and linehaul operations, “Imperial Cargo has been unable to and will continue to be unable to compete with smaller and medium-size low-cost operators in the general freight and linehaul market.”

Smaller trucking companies can operate from home with one or two people managing operations without any hustle.

Big fleet companies, however, need controllers, finance development full of clerks and managers, business development department, general workers, security guards, cleaners etc.

Factoring in the above, smaller companies are able to charge clients lesser and still maintain a sustainable business.

Meanwhile, in bigger companies’ terms, reducing rates usually have devastating effects, retrenchments being one of them.

In an underperforming economy such as ours, it makes good business sense for clients to employ cheaper services even at the expense of quality.

Labour unions have urged employers not to use the Covid-19 crisis to fire employees.

Cosatu provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn said: “We are concerned about the job losses during this difficult time. We’ve appealed to employers to be more sensitive during this time because workers are not to blame for the coronavirus. The employer cannot use this virus as an excuse to get rid of them.”

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