Central Europe, particularly Poland and Lithuania, is facing a significant shortage of truck drivers. Poland alone has a deficit of roughly 110,000 heavy-goods-vehicle (HGV) drivers, representing about 20% of its total demand. This scarcity is attributed to an aging domestic workforce, stricter EU-wide tachograph rules, and a general reluctance among young Poles to pursue careers involving long weeks on the road. The vacancy rate in Poland's transport, forwarding, and logistics sector was 44% higher than the average across all industries last year.
Historically, Polish drivers have been a crucial labor pool for Western European countries like Germany, which still relies heavily on foreign workers, particularly from Eastern Europe, to fill its own driver gaps. However, with Poland now experiencing its own severe shortages, the dynamic is shifting. The Polish Transport & Logistics Association (TLP) highlights the central European driver deficit.
In response to this crisis, Polish and Lithuanian hauliers are turning to new recruitment pools outside the EU. For instance, Lithuania-based Vlantana Logistics, a major road-freight operator in the Baltic region, announced plans to import up to 200 professional truck drivers from Brazil and neighboring South American countries. This recruitment, in partnership with São Paulo-based M/BRAZIL Agency, involves budgeting a minimum of €6,000 per driver for legalisation, training, and relocation, with a 10-12 week work-permit processing time. Companies like Vlantana are providing intensive Polish-language courses and seeking collective residence permits. Other large transport groups, such as Girteka, are also expanding recruitment networks in Central Asia and South America, with Brazilian drivers undergoing training to meet European standards.
The overall EU road transport sector is grappling with an estimated 500,000 unfilled driver positions, a number projected to reach 650,000, representing 13-15% of total demand. The problem is structural, stemming from an aging workforce and insufficient new entrants, with the average age of drivers around 47 and less than 5% under 25. Non-EU drivers are increasingly seen as a solution; in Poland, they already account for almost 30% of drivers in international transport, with 162,489 non-EU drivers employed by Polish companies by the end of 2023, over 88,000 of whom are Ukrainian citizens. The EU is exploring measures to streamline the process, including allowing qualification exams in multiple languages and reducing certain training requirements, while some member states, like Germany, are advocating for easier recognition of non-EU driving licenses.
