Earlier this month, it was revealed that Manvesta Logistics had been advertising driving positions in Sri Lanka via the Fortuna – Recruitment HR Services agency.
The advertisement referred to 250 vacancies. However, the recruitment agency’s Facebook Page, as well as Sri Lanka press report, both state the goal is for as many as 600 applicants from across Asia to be driving Manvesta Logistics’ vehicles in Europe.
As explained by Fortuna, the plan is for the company’s Sri Lanka office to onboard 250 drivers, with a further 200 coming from the company’s Dubai office. The remaining drivers will come from Fortuna’s office in Singapore.
According to the most recent data shared on a Lithuanian company database, Manvesta’s entire fleet is composed of 925 vehicles. Therefore, if the company were to onboard 600 new drivers from Asia, it could theoretically have the new recruits drive an incredible two-thirds of its fleet.
The plan may nonetheless take longer than expected to deliver if a recent report from Sri Lanka is anything to go by.
According to the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror, of the 250 vacancies advertised in the first recruitment drive, only 109 of several hundred applicants could be selected with “good driving skills and basic English knowledge”.
The process of checking drivers’ documents, English and driving skills has been documented on social media by the Fortuna – Recruitment HR Services agency.
A live video shaed to the company’s Facebook Page shows an absolutely rammed office full of prospective drivers.
We are currently having the interviews for MANVESTA delegates in our office. The response has been great and so many are being selected. We are hopeful that many will pass the practicals as well.
Posted by Fortuna – Recruitment HR Services on Friday, 10 February 2023
In addition, the recruitment agency has shared some footage of prospective Manvesta drivers going through training in Sri Lanka.
Driver testimonies have been shared by the recruitment company too.
In one clip, a driver who was successfully onboarded in Europe via Fortuna tells viewers “I’m enjoying my trip here in Poland”. The comment nonetheless appears strange as the video clearly shows he is in the heart of Germany. The trucker then explains that “Europe is better than the Middle East” and adds that he has doubled his salary compared to what he was earning as a bus driver in Dubai.
Congratulatory messeges and well wishes of our first batch of drivers whom we sent from Dubai. Mr. Arnulfo Tolorio is giving his thumbs up and 100% credit to Fortuna in making his dreams come true.
Thank you sir for recommending us and being our number one fan. We wish you all the best for an even brighter future.Posted by Fortuna – Recruitment HR Services on Saturday, 11 February 2023
In the caption accommodating the video, Fortuna writes the driver was “giving his thumbs up and 100% credit to Fortuna in making his dreams come true”.
In a separate clip, a Fortuna driver is seen praising the accommodation and training he has received. He then goes on to say “we are all happy here” before the camera pans towards his stone-faced colleague standing in the cold.
Despite the setback during the first recruitment drive in Sri Lanka, Manvesta appear to be far from giving up on its plans to recruit drivers from the country.
Indeed, the Sri Lankan news report even states that Manvesta’s Senior Director, Dana Janerikaite, met with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, to call on Sri Lanka to accelerate its HGV driver training.
Moreover, Janerikaite has talked up the vacancies in the Sri Lankan press, referring to Manvesta’s fleet of Mercedes Benz trucks as “luxurious”.
“We pay a monthly salary of LKR one million to work in our trans-Europe truck services. We have contracts for the transport of luxurious vehicles including Mercedes Benz, Tesla, food and other goods to over 500 clients. We need good drivers and I prefer to recruit from Sri Lanka because it is easy to teach basic skills to literate persons,” Janerikaite is quoted as saying.
Despite the fact that Sri Lanka will lose some of its own drivers by assisting Manvesta and Fortuna, it seems that the country is willing to provide some help.
It is reported that the Prime Minister has given permission for Manvesta and Fortuna to use the CTB Driving School and other training centres. In addition, it is said that the Prime Minister shall ask the Labour Minister and the Foreign Employment Bureau to establish a data bank on applicants.
Seemingly not content with that, Fortuna has also called on the Sri Lankan Government to procure left-hand drive trucks for them so it can conduct driving tests.
The news comes amid repeated calls from Lithuanian hauliers for the country’s quota on express visas for HGV drivers to be increased or scrapped.
Numerous examples indicate that Lithuania’s hauliers are increasingly looking towards Asia and other 3rd countries to fill driver vacancies.
For starters, official data recently published by the Lithuania’s Employment Office has shown that a stunning 78% of Lithuania’s 3rd-country work permits went to HGV drivers in 2022.
In addition to that, Lithuania’s main haulage association, Linava, has established cooperation with the authorities in Uzbekistan to establish a driving school in the Asian country. Girteka, the country’s largest haulage company by some distance, also said in January that no “effort is spared” in its attempts to attract drivers from the continent of Asia.
Interestingly, a report back in November of last year indicated that the Lithuanian authorities are willing to increase the express visa quota – provided “a slight improvement in working conditions” is made. However, according to a representative of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, this something that Lithuania’s haulage industry leaders were not prepared to accept.
Photo: Alang7™, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image cropped)
