Fritz Gurgiser, Chairman of the Transit Forum in Austria, recently told Austrian local newspaper Kronen Zeitung that he thinks the reason for the driver shortage is the “non-harmonisation of taxes in the 27 member states, the resulting relocation of production to low-wage countries and the dumping wages for international professional drivers with the lowest pension entitlements.”
If a Europe-wide uniform collective agreement regarding a minimum salary of 2,500 to 3,000 euros could be reached, the driver shortage would disappear in no time, the politician claims.
More than 400,000 drivers needed in Europe
According to a 2021 calculation by Transport Intelligence (TI), the European road transport sector needs approximately 400,000 HGV drivers. The most difficult situation is in Poland, Great Britain and Germany.
TI counts the driver shortage in Poland as much as 124,000 – a number that will likely have increase since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The situation is also difficult in Great Britain, where, according to various estimates, there is a shortage of 60- 76.000 drivers. According to Driver Require’s most recent report, the latest Q4 statistics confirm that the HGV driver pool remains unchanged. This means the driver shortage remains at ‘severe’ status as opposed to ‘crisis’ status. The authors add that although “this would appear to be good news”, we “must not be complacent or make too broad assumptions”.
The driver shortage is an aching problem in Germany, too, where 45-60.000 drivers are needed according to TI. However, the IRU predicts that this number will increase significantly in the coming years; by 2027 the union predicts a shortage of 185,000.