7,500 people are currently working in the transportation sector and associations fear that the driver shortage will grow further in the coming years. “Every company will need at least another 25 drivers. There are 380 companies in Luxembourg, so one can easily calculate how many people are needed”, explained association president Marianne Welter in conversation with RTL.
Delivery delays and refusals are becoming more frequent due to this shortage. According to Welter, a new social security regulation has contributed to the lack of interest in the profession: “A German driver, for example, cannot spend more than 25% of his driving hours in Germany, otherwise he has to pay his tax contributions there. That means we have to send him to Belgium where he doesn’t speak the language.”
Sectorial experts do not think that the war in Ukraine has anything to do with the situation as only very few Ukrainian drivers used to work in the Grand Duchy.
The average lorry driver in Luxembourg is 47 years old. An estimated 425,000 lorry drivers across Europe are expected to retire in the coming years.
Michael Rau, CEO of a major transportation firm, believes that the profession has an image problem: “The work conditions of drivers urgently have to be improved. The work deserves more respect and naturally it is also about salaries.”
While the driver shortage is expected to grow in the coming years, the number of deliveries seems to be on the rise.
Welter lamented that people have already forgotten how much everyone relied on lorry drivers during the pandemic and how much their efforts were lauded. We are now once again at a point where people are only annoyed by lorries on the road and the noise they make, she further added.
Representatives concluded by saying that the profession should be talked about more in education and presented in a better light.
