ILS celebrates its first birthday

September 17, 2021

South Africa’s transport sector faces a shortage of about 3 000 truck and bus drivers as of this year, owing to the recruitment of unskilled, unqualified and illegal foreign drivers, says truck driver training and testing centre Innovative Learning Solutions (ILS). TRACY HANCOCK joined the company’s first birthday celebrations to find out more.

The shortage of truck and bus drivers has severe repercussions. “Not only does it deprive locals of jobs, which our local youth are desperate to fill, but the shortage means employers simply do not have the capacity to allow their pool of drivers any time off. They are required to be behind the wheel every available moment [and deal] with all the safety consequences that follow,” states Innovative Solutions Group founder and CEO Arnoux Maré.

After surviving an extremely challenging year, ILS celebrated its first anniversary in June by introducing youth from non-profit organisation Kids Haven in Benoni to the world of trucking.

The intention was to spark their enthusiasm to enter the transport and logistics sector by educating them on what a commercial driving career can offer.

Boksburg is one of the main logistics hubs in South Africa, and therefore ILS has a duty to inform the previously disadvantaged of the potential opportunity right on their doorstep, says Maré.

He is convinced that, by sitting in the cockpit of a huge 18-wheeler, “they’ll hear their future careers calling” in the roar of the engine.

The ILS driver training centre in Boksburg East, Gauteng, was established last year to address the lack of skills and safety challenges in the transport industry.

“The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted for many consumers and businesses that without skilled, committed truck drivers, much of life in South Africa would probably have ground to a halt. It added urgency to their understanding that driver training is an essential service, the lifeblood of commerce,” states Maré.

Poor driving skills are also partially to blame for the high death toll on South Africa’s roads, with 16 000 people killed on the country’s roads each year, states ILS.

“Our training helps make drivers more attuned to situations they may encounter on the road, such as their drowsiness, heavy traffic, bad weather conditions, other drivers behaving irresponsibly, and even faulty vehicle conditions. We help drivers understand how to respond to those conditions appropriately,” says Maré.

Admitting that the pandemic presents an impossible time for new people-intensive businesses, he adds that the significant need for trained drivers, safer roads and job creation during a time of catastrophic job losses could not be ignored.

Hosting the birthday celebration, ILS GM Melinda Cawood emphasised that the sector presented “job security for life”, with 70% of South Africa’s freight transported by road and the remaining 30% by air and rail.

She said that, while ILS originally focused on Code 14 truck drivers, the company aimed to offer the benefit of its training to Code 10 drivers too.

More than 8 000 drivers and businesses have enrolled for one or more of the courses offered by ILS, which claims to be the largest Code 14 truck driver training facility of its kind in Africa.