‘No Saudi drivers hurting truck firms’

JEDDAH: A lack of Saudi nationals willing to drive heavy vehicles has left 60 percent of trucks stranded, some investors have claimed.
The investors were quoted as saying in a local publication recently that most of these companies are either in the lower green or red zones of the Nitaqat System and are therefore unable to hire foreign drivers. This has resulted in many smaller firms closing down, with larger ones suffering heavy financial losses, they claimed.
However, Tayseer Al-Mufarrej, spokesperson of the Ministry of Labor, said that investors have exaggerated the issue because the government only requires Saudis to make up 7 percent of the workforce of these truck firms. He said the ministry allows Saudis to take up administrative, accounting or technical jobs.
Al-Mufarrej said that these firms can avoid the red zone by hiring only seven Saudis for every 100 employees, and that the quotas were approved by committees of the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC).
Bandar Al-Jabiri, chairman of the CSC’s national transport committee, said that the committee had proposed a quota of 5 percent. He said firms cannot meet the 7 percent requirement because Saudis do not want to work in the sector. They tend to leave soon after being hired, he said.
Al-Jabiri claimed that 60 percent of trucks have stopped operating due to the lack of visas for expatriate workers. This would not only harm the local economy but also contribute to rising transportation costs, he said.
Al-Jabiri claimed the lack of drivers has affected the industry in various negative ways. There have been inefficient services provided, doubling of insurance costs and more traffic violations. The Road and Transport Inspection Directorate in Riyadh has reported 140 violations by transport companies, amounting to SR340,500, he said.
Abdulrahman Al-Otaishan, chairman of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former chairman of the national transport committee, claimed that around 50 percent of operators in the industry, made up of small firms, have closed down because of high costs and tough Saudization requirements.
Al-Otaishan said that since the ministry introduced Saudization, foreign drivers have now been asking for salaries as high as SR4,000 a month, with benefits. This situation has led to expatriates running their own companies and employing Saudi nationals as fake directors, he claimed.
Abdulatif Alhmain, a member of the land transport committee, said that foreigners have been pressurizing companies to provide higher salaries and benefits. Firms in the lower green zone have been forced because of their situation to provide higher salaries, he claimed.