News / Truck driver shortage now a 'structural threat' to businesses

Photo: © Maksim Safaniuk | dreamstime.com

The global truck driver shortage has become a structural threat to freight transport, according to the latest International Road Transport Union (IRU) Driver Shortage Report. 

Presenting the findings during a webinar launching the report, IRU director of certification and standards Marianne Kervyn warned that with nearly 3m vacancies worldwide and an ageing workforce set to push the crisis to new levels over the next five years, the industry’s labour crunch was no longer linked to market cycles. 

“When freight volumes in the EU slowed in 2022-23, many expected the shortage to ease. It didn’t,” she said. “That is a clear sign that this is not cyclical, it’s a structural situation.” 

The report, based on responses from more than 1,000 operators across 18 markets, found truck driver shortages averaged 11% globally in 2025, equivalent to around 3m unfilled positions. Europe’s shortage rose from 12% to 13% over the past year, while some markets, including Uzbekistan, reported shortages as high as 15%. 

Florence Le Guade, IRU road transport research specialist, said identical headline figures masked very different regional causes. 

“Europe and Australia are facing an ‘aging’ problem. Their workforce is retiring faster than young drivers are coming in, while in Uzbekistan… its shortage is driven by booming freight demands,” she explained. 

Across Europe, 63% of operators said the shortage was limiting their ability to expand their businesses because they simply lacked drivers to serve new customers. 

Romain Mouton, senior research manager at the IRU, explained: “Today’s capacity already fulfils a transport need, with both growing slowly. But driver shortage limits capacity flexibility. 

“Operators turn down contracts, as they are better placed to pick the more profitable ones. They can also miss opportunities when capacity runs short. So indeed, one operator’s loss can be another’s win. But it can also push the market towards a flow ceiling, as capacity is missing and higher freight rates for shippers organically limit the market size.” 

Ms Le Guade added: “The bottom line is very clear here. Driver shortage is not just a workforce issue; it is a direct constraint on the sector’s ability to grow.” 

She urged that the demographic outlook is even more concerning. IRU projects that 3.86m truck drivers will retire by 2030, representing 12% of the global workforce. Europe alone is expected to lose around 660,000 drivers by the end of the decade, on top of more than 500,000 existing vacancies. 

Meanwhile, women account for just 4% of truck drivers in Europe, despite making up 23% of the wider transport workforce, although targeted recruitment programmes in countries such as the Netherlands and Turkey have shown progress is possible. 

Dutch operator Jan de Rijk Logistics told the webinar retaining drivers was becoming just as important as recruitment. 

“Ultimately, the driver shortage is, in my opinion, not only a recruitment issue, it’s also about listening to the employees and creating an environment in which people want to stay,” said HR manager Nadia van de Rijk. 

Mr Mouton advised that shippers could contribute, for instance by “improving the experience of drivers” at the loading and unloading bay, reducing waiting times and offering waiting facilities. 

He noted that autonomous driving would “alleviate the driver shortage”, but added: “Transport operators are already facing cost increases on all fronts, and decarbonisation will require new investment from them. The industry will face major driver shortages before autonomous driving could become mainstream, at least, with the current pace.”  

He also highlighted that multimodal transport, such as rail, could alleviate the roadside shortage, but they also faced the similar issue of transport capacity.

“It is not the ultimate solution, not in the short term, but one definitively to investigate,” he said. 

Greater collaboration between governments, operators, and shippers to improve working conditions, attract younger recruits, and remove barriers to entry was also suggested by the IRU. 

“The shortage is real, and the next four years require deep coordination across all the different stakeholders,” stressed Ms Kervyn.