Photo: Czech Wikipedia user Packa, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Czech hauliers call for faster 3rd country driver document processing

ČESMAD Bohemia, the Czech Republic's main haulage association, has sounded the alarm about the country's growing HGV driver shortage. The association warns the shortage is growing by 3,000 drivers every year, and wants to see measures implemented to bring younger drivers, as well as drivers from 3rd countries, into the fold.

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The figures concerning Czechia’s shortage come from Tomáš Bicera, who was speaking to the Czech press on Monday.

Bicera says the country’s HGV driver shortage stands at 25,000. The shortfall is also growing as every year as 8,000 retire and only 5,000 enter the profession.

“Although the labour shortage now affects almost every profession, it is all the more noticeable in the field of transport, as the positions of drivers cannot currently be replaced by technology. At the same time, the problem is pan-European, even global,” Bicera told idnez.cz.

To bring new blood into the sector, ČESMAD Bohemia is cooperating with colleges to introduce young people to the lorry driving profession and get them signed up for training.

However, recruiting from abroad is also part of the picture according to the ČESMAD representative, who appeared to bemoan the fact that hiring 3rd-country drivers is easier in Poland:

“The process of employing a foreigner and processing an employment card in the Czech Republic takes about four to eight months, while abroad, for example in Poland, it is possible to employ the same foreign worker in a matter of weeks,” said Bicera.


Photo: Czech Wikipedia user Packa, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons