In 2019, when Waberer’s stopped ordering 300 trucks and also reduced the size of the existing fleet, it started a significant reduction of the fleet.
This strategy of reducing the fleet and drivers continued until 2022; whereas in 2018 the average number of trucks was 4,450 and the number of drivers 5,934, in 2022 only 2,775 lorries and 3,464 truck drivers worked for the company.
The 2023 Q1 financial report shows that the reduction in the size of the fleet has been halted and that, compared with the trends of previous years, the group has begun to grow its fleet in small steps: 72 new vehicles and 204 new drivers are now working for the company.
Waberer’s president of board and CEO Zsolt Barna – photo credits @ Waberer’s Group
trans.iNFO asked Zsolt Barna, President and CEO of Waberer’s, about the reason for the increase in the fleet.
Zsolt Barna, CEO of Waberer’s: Although we have slightly increased the number of lorries in the international transport segment by about 5%, I still see that the current approximately 2,000 vehicles serving our international road transport businesses is the optimal size for us.
Fortunately, in the last year and a half, with the new corporate concept and the growth of value-added services, the Waberer’s Group has seen a significant increase in demand for its transport services, and we have increased the number of vehicles in the fleet to meet this demand.
It is important to note, however, that we are also experiencing dynamic growth in the number of orders for other modes of transport (intermodal, rail and sea), which should provide our customers with a more environmentally friendly solution in the medium term.
But, coming back to road transport; although we are trying to adjust the size of the fleet flexibly, we are not planning such drastic, dynamic growth as the group did before the 2020s.
This time it was demand that drove the growth, and the company’s own supply of drivers, which we had access to through our own HGV driver scheme, made a serious contribution to getting these trucks on the road.
Trans.iNFO: the driver shortage is a serious problem all over Europe. Recently, some serious emotions were stirred up in Hungary when several Hungarian hauliers, including Waberer’s, announced that they would bring drivers from third countries to solve the shortage. So what route are Waberer’s are going down to recruit these drivers?
Zsolt Barna : A very important change in the company is that while we used to recruit mainly Romanian and Ukrainian drivers in addition to Hungarian drivers, we are now operating on a much broader labour market.
From 2021 we are already actively recruiting in Serbia, but we have also reached out further afield; last year we were able to receive, train and deploy third-country drivers coming from India, the Philippines or Kenya.
We see a great opportunity in these countries and we have found that we can successfully integrate drivers from such a distance into our system. This has definitely helped to increase fleet utilisation.
trans.iNFO: How many people have come from these countries?
Zsolt Barna: We are cautiously increasing the number of drivers from non-European countries, because due to language and other cultural differences, the co-workers must also be prepared to receive these colleagues. At the moment there are less than 200 of them.
Trans.iNFO: Does this mean that Hungarian drivers are right to be afraid? Will drivers from third countries push them out of the company?
Zsolt Barna: This is out of the question and has never been the case. The recruitment of Hungarian drivers has been strong in recent years, partly due to our latest wage schemes. Hungarian drivers can earn above the market average at Waberer’s and currently more than a hundred of Hungarian drivers with a new driving licence enter our system every year and start their career.
We started our driving school two years ago exactly because it is important for us to work with Hungarian drivers, as they not only have local knowledge and language skills, but are also aware of countless rules and situations that are not obvious for those who come from further afield.
We can now rely on this pool of drivers, and we also find that the turnover rate among the Hungarian colleagues we train ourselves is much lower. They enter the system knowing what to expect and are better prepared to deal with various problems.
Trans.iNFO: The prices are also available on the driving school’s website: category C training costs 319,600 forints (approx 840 euros) , category CE 213,900 forints (approx 600 euros) and CPC training 167,700 forints (440 euros). That’s a lot of money compared to the Hungarian average income. In your experience, how serious is the cost as an obstacle for potential applicants?
Zsolt Barna : Unfortunately, it is a significant obstacle – so much so that the government and companies must face it and deal with it.
And it is precisely because of this high cost that Waberer’s and some other forward-looking companies have introduced some form of financial support for drivers, so that the cost of training does not stand in the way of anyone who wants to learn to drive a truck.
At Waberer’s you can get a driving licence as part of a scholarship programme. When someone joins the scholarship programme, both the applicant and the company agree to take on responsibilities: the driver agrees to undertake and successfully complete the training and to spend a certain amount of time with the company, while Waberer’s agrees to provide the applicant with a scholarship for as long as he attends the driving school and to offer him a job with the company once he has completed all the training.
This applies not only to national drivers, but also, during the period of naturalisation and CPC exams, of international or third-country drivers.
And it’s a very successful programme.
trans.iNFO: Girteka recently announced that they are opening offices in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, so that they can recruit and train drivers on the spot – practically building a “HGV driver factory” – without any intermediaries. What do you think of this solution?
Zsolt Barna: To be honest, I think this solution is a pretty good idea, but it is not new – at least not completely.
In neighbouring countries, Waberer’s cooperates with the labour market in a similar way; in Serbia and Romania we also have access to drivers through local training courses.
In fact, we at Waberer’s already have a similar system in place. The selection and testing of this year’s third-country has already been done on the spot.
But the goal of the Hungarian government is for logistics and transport to contribute more to domestic GDP, so a lot of incentive programmes are being developed with interest representatives. Accordingly, a system is being developed where the European CPC training and testing could be completed in the third country – with various digital solutions, simulator training and, of course, practical training.
If a system could be created where all the training takes place abroad, locally, drivers would not even have to come to Hungary until they have a naturalised driving licence. This would be the most effective way to solve the Hungarian driver shortage in cooperation with the local labour market.