European haulage firms could recruit more than 2,000 Brazilian truck drivers in 2026, according to international recruitment agency M/Brazil, as operators widen their search for labour beyond traditional overseas hiring markets. The trend also raises questions about a recruitment model that has already drawn scrutiny over working conditions, pay disputes and enforcement gaps.
Marcelo Toledo, owner of M/Brazil, says the agency has signed agreements with 17 European transport companies that together plan to hire over 2,000 Brazilian drivers this year. Demand is coming from Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland and Lithuania. The figure is an agency forecast rather than a verified market total, but it reflects Brazil’s growing role in European driver recruitment.
Brazilian drivers appeal to European employers for several reasons: many have long-haul experience, are accustomed to demanding road conditions, and are drawn by the prospect of significantly higher wages. Toledo adds that around 5% of the Brazilian drivers engaging with his agency already hold European passports, easing parts of the recruitment process. The agency says it receives around 10,000 CVs a month from drivers seeking overseas work.
The backdrop is Europe’s well-documented driver shortage. In February, the European Commission published an IRU-led study on the recruitment and integration of bus and truck drivers from third countries. The study found the EU road transport sector is short of around 500,000 professional drivers. It concluded that third-country recruitment can help address the gap, but only if built on clear legal pathways, fair conditions and common EU standards — and that it is not a substitute for structural reform within the sector.
Brazil is emerging as part of a broader diversification of recruitment markets rather than an isolated experiment. As some established hiring routes become more complex, transport firms are increasingly looking at labour pools that can deliver experienced drivers with fewer procedural bottlenecks.
Trans.INFO has already reported on one such example. Earlier this month, Lithuanian haulier Gretvėja interviewed candidates in São Paulo with the aim of hiring 200 Brazilian truck drivers. That recruitment drive ran concurrently with a wage dispute in Rotterdam involving one of the company’s drivers, who alleged months of underpayment. Gretvėja disputed the allegations. The overlap illustrated the reputational risks that can arise when international recruitment scales quickly and labour standards or enforcement come into question.
