|
China News--Truck Driver Chen Yong’s Plight: A Glimpse of China’s Economic Slowdown Through the Eyes of Freight Workers
“Back in the day, when I arrived at a destination, I’d just check into a hotel to sleep and eat at restaurants. Now, I sleep in the truck—no place to take a shower, and I cook my meals right there in the vehicle.” Over the past two years, as the freight industry has struggled, 53-year-old truck driver Chen Yong has tightened his belt on food and accommodation. Even in sweltering summer, he endures three nights in his truck rather than splurging on a hotel. Chen told Lianhe Zaobao that he has long hauled goods on the regular route between Hubei and Guangxi. Previously, he made at least four to five round trips a month; this year, that number has dropped to three.
Truck drivers, who spend most of their lives on the road, are a vital link connecting different segments of China’s economic operation—and among the first to feel the “temperature” of the economy. While China’s economy withstood external pressures and delivered an impressive 5.3% growth in the first half of the year, these drivers are feeling a distinct chill.
On his trips back from Guangxi to Hubei this year, Chen has to calculate every expense down to the last yuan just to barely break even. His transportation cost is 200 yuan per ton (RMB; equivalent to approximately 36 Singapore dollars), but freight platforms drive down rates: they start at 160 yuan per ton, and only raise it to 170 or 180 yuan if no one takes the job. “It’s a waiting game to see who caves first and accepts the low rate,” Chen said.
In previous years, he could find a load within a day at most. This year, however, Chen has had to wait three days on several occasions—and in the end, take jobs that lose him money. After that, he has to calculate fuel costs and highway tolls for the 1,200-kilometer return trip, then plan which sections he can take national highways to save money.
But even with meticulous calculations, he can never be sure he won’t lose money. Chen sighed helplessly: “Before, when we looked for loads on the blackboards at logistics parks, I could pick any job with my eyes closed, take the highway the whole way, and make a profit no matter what. Now, it’s easy to end up in the red.”
Chen is far from alone. Two other interviewed drivers from Hebei and Anhui also reported being hit by the decline in long-haul freight volume over the past two years. Their monthly incomes have fallen from over 20,000 yuan during the COVID-19 pandemic to just over 10,000 yuan today.
Official data shows there are approximately 38 million truck drivers in China. According to the 2025 Truck Driver Employment Status Survey Report released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in July this year, Chinese truck drivers generally report that their overall income last year was lower than in 2023. Among them, individual drivers saw their income drop by nearly 80%, while employed drivers experienced a roughly 50% decline.
Lao Zhao, a driver from Hebei, used to work as an outsourced driver for a large pharmaceutical company, transporting medicines during the pandemic. After the pandemic, the company ran into operational difficulties, laid Lao Zhao off, and he lost his stable source of cargo.
Lao Wei, from Anhui, used to mainly transport raw materials for small chemical plants. In recent years, however, many of these plants have been shut down due to environmental protection issues, cutting his cargo sources in half. Chen Yong, who transports formwork for construction sites, has also seen his workload shrink amid the downturn in the real estate sector.
As cargo sources decrease, the threshold for truck loans has also been lowered—exacerbating the “too many drivers, too little cargo” problem in the industry. Lao Zhao lamented in a WeChat Moments post: “Before, shippers would book trucks in advance. Now, no matter where you go, trucks are lined up waiting for loads.”
Two other interviewed drivers believe that “zero-down payment” truck purchases—where you can get a truck without paying a cent upfront—are the root cause of the industry’s cutthroat competition. Drivers with loaned trucks have to make monthly repayments, so they have to keep hauling even if the freight rate is extremely low to secure the next job; those who don’t want to run at a loss have no choice but to leave their trucks parked at home, idle.
Lao Wei has been in the industry for 30 years and has replaced four trucks, but he jokes that “this job is only slightly better than farming.” He said that anyone who makes money in this industry upgrades their truck—getting bigger vehicles each time—but “we support a whole chain of upstream and downstream people, yet we can’t even support ourselves.”
Scholar: Fierce Competition in Auto Industry Spills Over to Downstream Transportation
The “China Highway Logistics Freight Rate Index,” released monthly by the China Logistics Information Center, showed that in August this year, the index stood at 105.1 points, up 0.01% month-on-month and 0.8% year-on-year. This means that while many drivers’ incomes are falling, the overall freight rate has seen a slight recovery.
Chen Bo, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, told Lianhe Zaobao that the current state of the freight industry may be similar to that of the ride-hailing sector—both face issues of increased platform commissions and depressed driver incomes.
He pointed out that fierce competition in China’s auto industry and lower vehicle purchase costs have also spilled over to the downstream transportation sector, lowering entry barriers and drawing more people into the freight market, which further intensifies cutthroat competition.
Additionally, Chen Bo noted that freight rates do not equal drivers’ net income. Transportation costs also include vehicle maintenance and repairs, fuel costs, and fines. When drivers feel “the more I haul, the more I lose,” it may be because other costs are rising while their actual take-home pay shrinks.
Yao Shujie, a professor of economics at Chongqing University, argued in an interview that the current decline in truck drivers’ incomes is a “market economy adjustment to fluctuations” and a “growing pain of industrial restructuring” as China shifts toward mid-to-high-end industrial chains.
Yao explained that as Chinese manufacturing transitions from producing clothing, footwear, and steel to automobiles, electronic and mechanical equipment, and medical devices, the transportation structure is also changing. The economic value created by transporting 10 truckloads of coal in the past can now be matched by a single truckload of computers.
“In this process, surplus industrial workers cannot be transferred to other fields immediately, leading to falling wages and labor outflow,” he said. “But when labor outflow and the reduction of logistics companies reach a certain point, the market may in turn push wages back up, eventually forming a new balance.”
“Short-term, it’s abnormal for drivers to leave their trucks idle or sell them compared to the past; but long-term, this is a normal part of market economy adjustments,” Yao added.
Chen Yong bought his current truck—which cost over 500,000 yuan—three years ago. Beyond the expenses incurred while on the road, his annual fixed costs include over 20,000 yuan for vehicle inspections, over 20,000 yuan for tire replacements, over 20,000 yuan for insurance, and over 10,000 yuan for repairs.
As for how much longer he can keep hauling, Chen is unsure. This year, he even went to a used car market to check the price of his truck—though he paid off the loan just last year, it can now only be sold for around 120,000 to 130,000 yuan.
“According to my license, I can keep driving for over a decade, but looking at my health and the current market, I probably won’t last more than a few years,” Chen said. “Trucks like this—usually, they’re not in good shape after three or four years.” |
