FORT WORTH, Texas — Throughout the end of last year, retailers struggled to keep supplies on shelves. Holiday gifts arrived late to people’s homes and high prices plagued Texans everywhere from the gas station to the grocery store. Most of the issues are an affect of the struggling U.S. supply chain. Months after the holidays, the supply chain situation is still lagging, and some experts say it may not get there in 2022.

If you need evidence of that, look no further than Jim Grundy’s payroll at Sisu Energy in Fort Worth.

Sisu is one of the largest companies running trucks in and out of the oil and gas wells across the state. Grundy built the company to run lean by employing a lot of new technology in the mix. The company got its biggest attention last year when Grundy and company started offering semi owner-operators as high as $14,000 per week routes to work with them. The salary reflects the enormous demand for truck drivers throughout the logistics industry.

Grundy says since that offer went viral, his drivers have earned even higher amounts for their work on some oil and gas well routes; keeping most of that money for their take-home.

“Last week our top guy did $24,000,” said Grundy. “He took home 83% of that.”

Even with the attractive price tag, openings outside of owner-operator trucks, Grundy said he’s still struggling to find people qualified for the highly skilled positions or who are willing to be trained.

Sisu reports that there are still hundreds of drivers short of their need for the next few months of routes coming in.

“We’re not getting new drivers from outside the oil and gas space to come join what we’re doing,” said Grundy.

The nationwide shortage of truck drivers continues to be one of the major issues driving the current supply chain struggles.

Nathan Hutson, a University of North Texas assistant professor of public administration who researches transportation and freight delivery, says the country is still sitting on a major backlog of shipments coming into its ports. It’s a situation that’s compiled over the recent years of a pandemic, protests and political unrest.

On top of those recent developments, Hutson said the way supplies move has also transformed. More people are choosing same-day delivery through online services, and created additional needs in shipping and transporting goods.

“A lot of those changes take new infrastructure or new truckers entering the workforce, which is a long process,” said Hutson.

It’s well documented that the trucking industry has struggled with an aging workforce retiring from their ranks and fewer new drivers stepping up to take their spots.

Hutson said there’s also more competition for those drivers whose talents are in high demand.

“They’re not truckers only. They’re truckers and they can also have other valuable skills,” said Hutson.

Without the drivers to move items, shelves won’t be filled as quickly, gas and groceries will be in shorter supply and prices on a lot of items will continue to go up to compensate for demand.

In a New York Times article published this month, some experts even theorized that it could be beyond 2022 before the situation really stabilizes.

Grundy said that’s forced his team to keep thinking outside of the box for ways to operate more efficiently and attract more potential drivers. He realizes the highly specialized job isn’t for everyone, no matter how good the paycheck is.

“It’s hard what these guys do. They’re out there for 30, 60, 90 days straight,” said Grundy.

However, he said they’ll find a way, and find that next generation of truckers out there somewhere.