Young Ibra Drammeh, 17, wants to follow in his father's footsteps and be a truck driver. His dream is to drive a heavy trailer and travel around Europe. “Truck driving is something that I have always liked, I have experienced it since I was little and I think it is a good job opportunity,” he explains during the break of a practical class with the simulator in the intermediate level vehicle driving cycle that He studies at the Montilivi Institute in Girona.
Mohamed Bouhamed, also 17, has other interests. His goal is to be a coach driver on international routes, although he will have to wait until he is 23 years old, which is when the law allows him to take long trips.
The lack of professional drivers is pressing. While freight transport by rail represents only 3.5% currently, the sector estimates that by 2026 some 30,000 jobs will need to be filled in Spain. Young people like Ibra or Mohamed will be an exception in a sector where more than half of the 450,000 employees are over 50 years old.
With an increasingly aging workforce, increasing retirements and an ever-growing deficit of professionals, the profession is a guarantee of employment. But it is still “unattractive” for those who must guarantee generational change in the future.
The reasons that explain why this is not a country for truck drivers are several. The lack of regulated public training has been a major obstacle, according to the sector. Something that the administration has begun to alleviate with the implementation of training cycles like the one Ibra and Mohamed are taking in Girona in all the Catalan provinces. Until now there was only the option of training in Vic.
The alternative was the driving school, where the amount to be paid ranges between 3,000 and 4,000 euros, a price that includes the license and the certificate of professional aptitude, a course of about 140 hours that is essential to be able to drive.
“You need an investment in time and money to access the profession,” recognizes Raúl Viladrich, president of the Federació d’Autoescoles de Catalunya. Even so, he explains that they have noticed “an uptick” in registrations to start the trade since the news spread that there is a lack of personnel. “There are even companies that are paying for the permits,” he adds.
Remuneration and hours, which often require availability on the weekend, are another obstacle, as well as the age limitations to be able to drive buses, according to the vice president of the Girona Transport Association (Asetrans). , Àlex Gilabert, and president of the Teisa bus company, who also denounces the difficulties of hiring at source.
All of this means that entry into the transport sector is done “in a dropper”, while retirements are arriving “in cascade”, says Jordi Esparraguera, director of Asetrans.
Remember that many of the truck drivers who are on the verge of retirement obtained their truck driving license during military service, a group that is facing the end of its working life.
About to retire is Josep M., who at 62 years old has been behind the wheel for almost forty years. He has touched all the areas of the sector: national, international and regional trips, working for himself and others.
“In all that time I have never lacked work,” he states, although he recognizes the hardness of the job. Many nights away from home, little time with family and a very physical job in the beginning. “Luckily, everything is made with pallets now,” she says.
The president of the Transport and Logistics Association of Catalonia, Antonio Martínez, calls for measures to “dignify” the sector. He explains that one in two transporters has been robbed while in the cab of the truck, something that could be solved by increasing the number of spaces in guarded parking lots. “In Europe there are 500,000 places missing, and in Catalonia there are no more than a thousand,” he explains. 32,000 trucks circulate daily on the Tarragona-La Jonquera axis.
He considers that one of the reasons that explains the shortage of drivers is “the mistreatment” that has traditionally been given to the profession. Currently the law prohibits a driver from being away from home for more than two months, when before they could be away for up to 11 months.
“In the last 10 or 15 years there are hardly any local transporters,” he adds. The profession has stopped being attractive to young Spaniards. “The lack of truck drivers is a problem in most countries,” explains dangerous goods driving trainer and intermediate vehicle driving teacher in Girona, Demetrio Padilla, who lived in Canada for a decade. “80% were foreigners, which is what happens here,” he explains.
