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SUPPLY CHAINS ARE BEING DRIVEN TO DESPAIR BY DRIVER SHORTAGES


Across Europe, we are seeing the widespread impact of the shortage of truck drivers. It has become an issue which is impossible to ignore.


The situation, which has been well-known within industry circles for so many years, is now visible on the frontline to consumers on an almost daily basis. We are seeing TV and newspaper reports of products being removed from the menus of global brand restaurants, others being forced to close, and supermarkets with empty shelves. And, there is no immediate end in sight to the issue with an estimated shortage of some 400,000 drivers in Europe.


In this issue, we report that in the UK, one supermarket is offering salaries to truck drivers which far exceed the average pay grade for schoolteachers, solicitors and architects. A new report by market researchers and analysts Ti Insight also lists many of the initiatives aimed at growing the European driving community. These include:


• ‘Signing on’ fees and other financial incentives, including share options


• New Driver academies


• Financial support for training with job guarantees


• Rotating staff between driving and warehouse roles


• Recruiting ex-military personnel • Attracting more female drivers


• Reducing the minimum age of professional truck drivers


• Longer holiday allowances


• Retraining former prisoners to return to the workplace


• Attracting foreign drivers from outside of Europe


• Hiring in military drivers for peak seasons


• Retraining warehouse staff to become drivers


This list, in itself, signals the growing level of desperation of companies which simply cannot keep supply chains running smoothly and consistently without adequate driver resources.


Technology has a role to play, of course. Predictive AI is helping to manage routings and vehicle and driver utilisation more efficiently. One day, autonomous trucks may provide the ultimate solution. But, for now, every company manufacturing or moving goods has a major challenge to the resilience of their supply chains.


Online freight exchanges provide big resources of truck capacity and drivers and, in most cases, they do a competent job. But they also provide a hunting ground for fake carriers and we regularly see reports of cargo losses because some businesses, desperate to move cargoes at the lowest cost, engage with suppliers without carrying out sufficient checks into their authenticity.


We know truck driving – particularly for intercontinental drivers – is a demanding


profession. Often, drivers spend long periods away from their families. And, while on duty, they frequently find themselves having to stop in locations with no or


THORSTEN NEUMANN President & CEO TAPA EMEA


very poor facilities. These working conditions remain a major concern.


Whilst over 90% of the cargo thefts reported to TAPA EMEA’s Incident Information Service (IIS) involve criminal attacks on trucks, the number of cases of violence against drivers remains relatively low (3.5% in 2020), but this is still too many. Our last Cargo Theft Annual Report cited 232 cases of Violence or Threat with Violence against drivers and, in what is a close-knit profession, the fear of attack undoubtedly resonates across the driving community.


So, the transport and logistics industry – and its customers – face a big dilemma. In the short-term, the various incentives on offer may encourage existing drivers to switch employers, but it is in everyone’s best interests to invest in a long-term, sustainable solution to attract new drivers into the industry. Alongside financial rewards, this means better career advice for young people and those looking to retrain, driver training programmes and career progression opportunities, and improving working conditions, including the provision of safer, better-equipped secure parking locations. Until then, the current shortages we are all experiencing as consumers will remain a part of our everyday lives.


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