Milk delivery concerns have been alleviated after a shortage of drivers earlier this year led state officials to take emergency measures to curb impacts in 16 North Dakota counties.
The state Milk Marketing Stabilization Board in February licensed several food distributors to deliver milk directly to customers and businesses in the affected area, largely in eastern North Dakota, Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said.
The situation arose in January after a major milk distributor went out of business, partially due to a lack of certified drivers, according to the governor’s office.
Schools, long-term care facilities and senior citizen centers stood most affected, according to Goehring.
Doug Goehring
“They have no other options. They have to have product delivered to them,” he said.
The agriculture commissioner and Gov. Doug Burgum in January announced emergency measures to address the driver shortage, including waiving hours of service for truck drivers delivering milk, waiving enforcement of certain licensing requirements until April 1 and boosting renewals of commercial driver’s licenses.
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Goehring said that within two weeks of the measures being announced “I had a lot more comfort” as to the situation.
The state Department of Transportation undertook several efforts to address the driver shortage, a nationwide problem that officials have tied to rising demand during the coronavirus pandemic, and more drivers retiring or leaving the industry.
DOT conducted 6,975 CDL knowledge tests in January and early February — seven times higher than a typical month, according to department spokeswoman Nicole Peske.
Seventy-five people sought renewal of their expired CDL after DOT sent 1,250 letters to drivers with expired licenses.
North Dakota now has 3,200 more CDL drivers than six months ago, including new licensees and permit holders, according to the DOT’s Driver License Division.
“That increase we saw is not a regular occurrence, so it does seem that it’s due to the extra efforts that took place in the last six months,” Peske said. “I know our team worked really hard early in the year to boost that number by targeting drivers with an expired license and then offering additional time slots for drivers to take the CDL knowledge test.”
North Dakota had 49,858 CDL holders in January.
Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.
