"Has anyone ever asked if our bodies can hold out until that day?"

Ask AI · How can a balance be struck between driver health conditions and the safety risks of new regulations?

On the first day of the new rules, 58k work licenses for drivers in Jiangsu that were canceled due to age were reinstated.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport revised the “Provisions on the Administration of Road Transport Practitioners.” It states that, effective March 20, the upper age limit for positions such as operating passenger and freight transport vehicle drivers and practitioners for the transport of dangerous goods by road has been extended from 60 to 63 years old, with corresponding adjustments to the conditions under which practitioners’ qualification certificates are canceled.

This new rule dovetails with the policy that, starting January 1, 2025, has extended the application age upper limit for driver’s licenses for large and medium-sized passenger and freight vehicles to 63, achieving unification of the relevant age standards.

After seeing the new regulations, Mr. Wang, who is 55, told China News Weekly that he plans to keep working until age 63. On one hand, his body can still handle it; on the other hand—and more importantly—he has relatively stable sources of freight.

As Xiang Xiaowen, a special research fellow of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and an expert committee member of the expert committee of the New Technology Promotion Branch of the China Transportation Association, said to China News Weekly, across the country, most people in the 60 to 63 age group are experienced “old hands” holding A2 licenses, with comparatively rich experience. This move can directly stabilize industry transport capacity and avoid the loss of large numbers of technically mature drivers caused by policy gaps.

“The existing stock of old hands” can therefore be released.

Photo/VCG

More and more drivers will retire

Regarding the industry-wide adjustment of the age requirement for road transport practitioners to “no more than 63 years old,” the Ministry of Transport’s website previously published an interpretation, mentioning that the purpose is “to fully release the benefits of the delayed retirement policy, and to actively respond to practitioners’ concerns.”

The “Report on the Employment Status of Truck Drivers in 2025” (hereinafter the “Report”) released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing shows that truck drivers’ working age is generally older: drivers aged 36 to 55 account for 84.38%, more than four-fifths. The proportion of truck drivers under 35 further declines, while the proportion of those aged 56 and above increases slightly—more and more drivers are approaching retirement age.

For this new regulation, there are both supportive and opposing voices online. The voting results from the automobile information platform TruckHome initiated by the platform show that 35% of truck drivers explicitly oppose loosening the age limit, believing that driving safety risks are high and that the 60-year upper limit should be maintained.

Some drivers argue: “They say truck drivers can drive until 63, but who has asked whether our waists, necks, and bodies can last until that day?” Along with the decline in physical capabilities comes a decline in judgment ability. Many drivers also commented that at age 60, reactions in all aspects are much slower than when they were younger.

A driver close to the 60-year threshold posted after extending their qualification certificate, saying that extending it for three years is “either joy or sorrow.” “Joy is that I can still eat this drivers’ bowl of rice; sorrow is whether my body can hold up within the next three years—only time will prove it.”

In Blue Senfeng’s observations—founder of Truck Treasure Technology and a special expert of the Road Freight Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing—supporting voices mainly come from two groups: one is professional drivers working for large, standardized enterprises. These drivers work in an environment with well-established systems and standardized management, with intelligent equipment such as assisted driving well supported, and their work is relatively stable; the other is the group nearing retirement, for whom the policy directly affects their personal interests. Whether they choose to keep working or exit smoothly, they are more likely to accept the policy arrangement.

Opposing voices are mainly concentrated among individual long-haul drivers, especially those born in the 1970s and 1980s. They lack stable sources of freight and system-based protection. Market competition pressure is high, and bodily functions such as vision and physical strength have begun to decline, yet the policy has not fully addressed their real predicament.

Xiang Xiaowen believes that, against the backdrop of ongoing changes in population structure, the age limits for those working in transportation in the future will develop in a more flexible and more scientific direction—gradually shifting from a single line drawn by age to a comprehensive evaluation mechanism centered on health conditions, driving skills, and safety records.

Structural shortage of people

Regarding the supply of drivers in the industry, there are always two viewpoints.

One side believes that there is a shortage of labor in the container trucking industry. Even if higher pay is offered, it is difficult to recruit suitable drivers; the other side believes that there is an oversupply of drivers. When transport capacity is sufficient but freight sources are insufficient, market competition intensifies to the point of near saturation.

Some industry self-media outlets have proposed that the number of drivers on freight platforms continues to grow. In the past three years, the average growth rate has reached as high as 20%, far higher than the growth rate of total freight in the same period. City delivery business has low entry barriers, attracting large amounts of labor, which exacerbates saturation in the transport capacity market. Meanwhile, the growth rate of transport capacity is far faster than the growth rate of freight sources.

In Xiang Xiaowen’s view, these two viewpoints are not contradictory—they reflect a “structural shortage of qualified people.” What the policy loosening responds to is a lack of “qualified drivers,” especially large-vehicle drivers holding A2 licenses, rather than a true “shortage of people.” Industry redundancy lies with C-license drivers at low entry barriers or with transport capacity. Meanwhile, positions such as container trucking and hazardous goods require extremely high levels of experience, and young people have relatively few starting to enter these fields. This new policy can allow sturdy old hands to work three more years, easing companies’ pain points of “not being able to hire experienced drivers,” while not significantly increasing the supply of low-end transport capacity, thereby having limited impact on the vicious competition of “too many trucks and too little freight.”

The Report also points out that individual-operated truck drivers account for 60.83%, and they remain the main主体 of market transport capacity supply, but they have weaker resilience against market risks. Among individual drivers, more than a third have vehicle loans. The share of drivers operating via affiliation (挂靠) is 55.58%, presenting risks of noncompliant operations. In addition, only 5.57% of individual-operated drivers have stable two-way freight sources. Even so, fewer than one-tenth of truck drivers are planning to switch careers, and around half of truck drivers still hope to keep driving in the future.

Therefore, this policy adjustment may only be the beginning of changes in the freight industry. Blue Senfeng believes that individual long-haul drivers in the 36 to 45 age range may be gradually eliminated in the long-haul transport market due to lack of institutional support and restrictions from physical conditions. In the future, the industry may exhibit a dual-layer structure—“stabilization of professional drivers and marginalization of individual drivers.” With the help of assisted driving, it may be possible to extend the driving “life” of drivers beyond age 55.

In other words, loosening the age limit is only a phased response to “tight labor demand.” According to research from the “China Truck Drivers Research Project Group” of the Department of Sociology at Tsinghua University, 60% to 80% of China’s truck drivers are individual drivers. They belong to a self-employed labor system: they purchase their own vehicles, drive on their own, and bear their own profits and losses. Their work has the labor characteristics of being atomized, mobile, uncertain, and composite.

As for how the industry’s structural contradictions will be resolved, the effectiveness of the policy still needs further observation.

Reporter: Li Qinhua

(qinhualilqh@163.com)

Intern: Yu Xindu

Editor: Xu Tian