The ATA has appointed the 2012 National Trucking Industry Woman of the Year, Roz Shaw, as the Chair of its Skills and Workforce committee.

Mrs Shaw is the CEO of Hawkins Transport in Queensland.

ATA Chairman David Simon said Mrs Shaw would be an outstanding ambassador for the industry.

“Roz’s appointment will bring a valuable new perspective to the work of the Skills and Workforce committee,” he said.

“Her passion for and experience in the industry are well known, and I look forward to seeing the results of her input to the committee in the future.”

Mrs Shaw said she was keen to work with the members of the committee.

“My goal is to see some of the committee’s longer term projects bearing fruit, such as a proposal to streamline the heavy vehicle licensing process. I’ll also bring some new ideas to the table from my work with the Queensland Transport and Logistics Workforce advisory group,” she said.

“Several individual sectors of the transport industry, such as the waste sector, already have skills programs in development. I aim to work with the committee to these across to benefit the whole industry, rather than reinventing the wheel.

“Hawkins Transport operates in mining hotspots like Mackay, Townsville and Mount Isa, where the worker shortage is really evident. Unless we start seeing a real increase in the number of workers taking up positions in transport, the industry will suffer as the freight task continues to increase.”

Mrs Shaw began her career in the transport industry in 1981, when she joined Hawkins Transport as a Girl Friday. In 1997, she was appointed as the CEO of the company, which she has transformed into a diversified organisation operating Hawkins Road Transport, Moreton Island Adventures, Hawkins Fuels and the Port of Brisbane truck stop/truck wash.

Her appointment follows WARTA Chairman Derek Nathan’s departure from the position, which he has held since 2008.