An attractive compensation is one way to mitigate the shortage of drivers

The haulage industry is experiencing high road freight demand and low truck supply in Europe. One primary reason for tightened capacity is the shortage of drivers. The industry is racing towards a situation of hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs, facing a long-term recruitment challenge, particularly in the UK, leading to rising haulage costs, longer lead times, less reliable supply chain, and port congestion.

“We take urgent action to match capacity levels with the current demand. This involves salary increases, retention focus, and re-routing, amongst other things,” says Niklas Andersson, EVP & Head of Logistics in DFDS.

A tense haulage market requires holistic action.

The driver shortage crisis is a structural issue in Europe, further worsened by other market dynamics constraints on driver capacity, such as the European Commission’s Mobility Package. DFDS do not expect this problem to disappear in the short term.

“Here and now, we focus on offering competitive compensation packages including competitive salary, flexible hours, various shift patterns for a better work-life balance to retain our current drivers and attract new ones. The package also includes benefits such as a health care scheme and free travel on DFDS pax ferries,” says Niklas and continues:

“But we have to handle the issue more holistically. The problem lies in not enough people schooled for life on the roads. In the UK, we started providing driving school opportunities to get more people into the truck driving world,” Niklas shares and encourages other companies to do the same.

Expect the shortage also to affect you

Unfortunately, the driver shortage crisis will imply consequences, for example, increased cost of transport goods due to shifting in market supply and the duration of transportation is also growing.

“These are the tendencies we face now. In DFDS we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact for our customers. For example, in Immingham, we have sufficient capacity to fulfil demand, and we move goods from road to rail when possible,” says Niklas.

Benefits for DFDS drivers

• Life assurance cover

• Contributory company pension scheme

• Uniform and personal protected equipment

• Access to funded continued professional development

• Access to full driver CPC training provided free of charge

• Full employee assistance programme

• Cashback on health care

• Free ferry travels for up to 4 guests

• Access to our award-winning wellbeing platform Thrive

• Access to Mental Health First Aid and webinars about positive wellbeing

• Retail discounts from high street and online retailers

• Opportunity to become part of our Driver Champions Network

• Regular team social events for drivers and families