Tra Williams was always told he needed a college degree to fall back on, but his take is people need a CDL to fall back on, he said, because those with a CDL can always find a job. Unfortunately, many of those drivers haven’t received proper training – an issue the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has recently taken stern measures against.
In the wake of FMCSA’s ongoing shutdown of non-compliant CDL schools, one CDL training provider is taking its FMCSA-compliant Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) directly to private fleet and carrier facilities.
Williams, president and CEO of FleetForce Truck Driver Training, said the company’s new strategic partnerships program aims to address the growing truck driver shortage by deploying instructors, curriculum and compliance infrastructure directly to employer facilities, eliminating travel requirements and minimizing operational disruption.
According to American Trucking Associations, 1,200 truck drivers in America retire weekly, with more than 200,000 CDL jobs available across the nation.
“Unfortunately, drivers are leaving the industry faster than we are replacing them,” Williams told media during TCA Truckload 2026 held this week in Orlando. “When companies choose to cannibalize drivers by recruiting from their competitors, they are fishing in a pond that is drying up. This is what I like to call workforce hot potato, and there is a better way.”
That better way, he said, is recruiting from within: upskilling team members like warehouse associates, forklift operators and yard personnel and turning them into truck drivers.
Williams said FleetForce began helping Publix develop drivers within their existing workforce four years ago, and now the company no longer hires drivers from outside its organization.
This significantly lowers recruitment costs, he said, because it is significantly cheaper to backfill a warehouse associate or forklift operator compared to an experienced CDL driver. There are some driver sign-on bonuses that cost more than FleetForce training, he added.
“There are some additional compounding advantages to this as well,” Williams said. “Internal promotion doesn't just reduce driver recruiting pressure; it also increases retention and strengthens your culture.”
This isn't restricted to internal recruitment. Williams said carriers can recruit entry-level drivers from outside their organizations and support their training with something like a contractual agreement that the driver would remain with the company for a certain period.
He said about 80% of carriers are accepting entry-level drivers right now because they don't have a choice.
“If we are serious about solving a 250,000 driver shortfall, while 171 drivers retire every single day, we must stop cannibalizing each other,” Williams said. “The only way we will ever solve this problem is by creating the next generation of drivers together.”
Williams is also working to solve another industry issue: truck parking.
In addition to his FleetForce announcement at the Truckload convention, he shared that his other company ParkPro has partnered with Amerant Bank Arena to provide parking for up to 200 trucks at the home of the Florida Panthers NHL team this summer.
ParkPro connects large event and retail venues that have underutilized parking to large carriers and private fleets.
Williams said ParkPro has more than 1,100 partner locations on its platform. Drivers can visit the website and vote for the most needed locations, which will define the company’s order of site rollout.
Those sites include stadiums, arenas, malls, coliseums and civic and conference centers.
“Many have onsite security, most have lighting and are surrounded by hotels and restaurants, and all ParkPro hosts sit near interstate access and have massive capacity,” he said.
