China’s truck drivers see dead end ahead amid rising costs and new toll system
- Long-haul truck drivers are unhappy with China’s new toll system, which has increased costs in an industry already notorious for tough working conditions
- China’s extensive tollways are among the world’s most expensive for drivers because of their debt-financed construction model
Dirty, lonely and exhausted from driving hundreds of kilometres at a time on only a few hours of sleep, Wang Ping is one of China’s army of 30 million truck drivers working long hours for low pay.
Ping, who is in his early 40s, has just finished a gruelling 36-hour, 2,500km journey from the central Chinese province of Hubei to the Pearl River Delta in his 49-tonne truck. After a few days’ rest, he’ll climb back behind the wheel and do it all over again – a round trip he grinds out about four times a month.
“We truck drivers live away from our families and often eat and sleep alone in the small truck cab. The past two years I’ve been living this way, but I’m still not earning enough to support my family and make the truck [loan] repayment,” Wang said at a logistics park on the outskirts of Shenzhen in the southern Guangdong province.
We truck drivers live away from our families and often eat and sleep alone in the small truck cab. The past two years I’ve been living this way, but I’m still not earning enough to support my family
