Ukrainian drivers in military service
War exacerbates labor shortages in logistics industry
4/24/2022 5:32 p.m
In Germany alone there is a shortage of thousands of truck drivers. The supply chains are shaking, supermarket shelves are temporarily empty. Because of the war, many Ukrainian drivers are returning to their homeland to fight. For many transport companies, the financial limit seems to have been reached.
The war in Ukraine exacerbates the shortage of personnel in the German transport industry, because Ukrainian truck drivers are called up for military service in their home country. The spokesman for the board of directors of the Federal Association of Road Haulage and Logistics (BGL), Dirk Engelhardt, told the editorial network Germany that in 2021, around seven percent of the trucks used in Germany had Ukrainian drivers behind the wheel. Accordingly, they mostly drive for Polish and Lithuanian freight forwarders who are on the road on behalf of German companies.
“Due to the truck driver shortage that is rampant across Europe, these drivers cannot be replaced in the short term,” said Engelhardt. In Germany alone, between 60,000 and 80,000 drivers were missing. Due to the additional driver shortage, the supply chains are even more tense than before. There are already gaps in the supermarket shelves because new goods cannot be delivered quickly enough – regardless of the delivery bottlenecks caused by the Ukraine war.
However, the industry is also being burdened by high diesel prices and other growing costs. In addition, the price surge caused by the Ukraine war is now added, Engelhardt said. “Many transport companies have reached their financial breaking point.” According to his assessment, there is a risk of bankruptcies in the German transport logistics industry – “then the supply of the population and the economy would be seriously endangered,” warned the association representative.