The shortage of professional truck drivers is today one of the most serious structural problems of European road transport. Industry associations across Europe — IRU (International Road Transport Union) at the forefront — publish yearly reports documenting a growing gap between job openings and qualified drivers, worsened by aging workforce and insufficient generational replacement. For a large forwarder, the practical consequence is one: finding the right carrier at the right price and within required timing is structurally harder than 10 years ago, and the trend will not reverse short-term. This article looks at three concrete operational levers a forwarder can activate today, without waiting for public policy.
The picture: why the shortage is structural
Three converging forces, per IRU reports and national associations.
Average age rising. The average European professional truck driver is over 50 in major EU countries. Pensions in the next 5-10 years subtract tens of thousands of units from supply.
Insufficient generational replacement. Young people under 25 entering the profession are a fraction of those leaving. The profession is perceived as tiring, underpaid relative to working hours, and with difficult work-life rhythms (distance from home, mandatory rest on highway until the Mobility Package).
Competition from other sectors. Intra-warehouse logistics, last-mile e-commerce, gig economy have subtracted potential drivers offering more stable hours. The long-haul TIR sector suffers most.
The result on actual flows is documented: rate pressure upward on the most reliable carriers, difficulty covering secondary lanes and last-mile in marginal zones, growing dependency on subcarriers and structured networks.
Three operational levers for a large forwarder
Waiting for public policy (funded training, license simplification, qualified immigration) is legitimate but slow. The forwarder has three levers actionable today.
Lever 1 — Exclusive network instead of public load board
An exclusive network of verified, loyal carriers protects from spot market volatility. The carrier establishes an exclusive relationship (full or partial) with the forwarder, receives steady loads and prompt payments, in exchange guarantees priority availability. The driver is not "lost" on another assignment to the day's highest bidder.
For the forwarder there's a double advantage: lower sourcing volatility and — when the network is digital — access to other participants' empty backhauls. A truck returning empty is a driver still being paid; turning that into a shipment for another forwarder in the network is recovered driver-time without new recruitment.
Lever 2 — AI automation of routine calls
Each in-transit shipment generates 4-8 calls between forwarder, carrier and driver (pickup, transit, delivery, PoD). On 50 shipments a day that's 200+ manually-handled calls. Automating them with voice AI doesn't reduce the number of drivers needed to drive trucks, but frees hours of internal traffic team to reinvest in high-value activities: route optimization, consolidation, customer success, network expansion.
The net effect is that the same team handles more volume with the same quality. The shortage of operations roles (traffic manager, logistics customer service) doesn't only concern drivers but the entire chain personnel. The AI lever raises the productivity ceiling of who's there.
Lever 3 — Structural reduction of empty backhauls
Eurostat structural data on European freight transport historically indicates 20-25% empty running on total kilometres. Every percentage point recovered is monetized driver-time. Three concrete actions:
- Triangular route planning with visibility on truck availability for return
- Backhauls shared in the network among participating forwarders
- Automatic publication of return availability collected via daily routine carrier calls
What does NOT work (and what the forwarder should not be sold)
Three approaches circulating in the market that don't solve the structural problem.
Just raise rates. Rate increases without other levers shift the problem onto the consignee, they don't solve it. The scarce driver remains scarce, the only effect is competitiveness erosion.
Driver apps as "the solution". A driver app is a useful operational channel (digital PoD, GPS, communications). It is not a "solution to driver shortage": you find the driver before the app, not thanks to the app.
Open marketplaces, Uber-for-trucks. US model that struggles in Europe due to chain fragmentation, 30+ network languages, Mobility Package framework. The serious European forwarder works with a verified exclusive network, not with anonymous spot marketplace.
Combined effect of the 3 levers
The three levers are not alternatives: they're complementary. Exclusive network + voice AI + shared backhauls is the operational pattern that today distinguishes European forwarders ready for the next 10 years of road haulage labor market from those who will keep suffering sourcing difficulties until the last available driver retires.
FAQ
How many professional drivers are missing in Europe?
IRU and national association estimates update annually. The qualitative datum that stays stable is that the gap is structural and worsening due to rising average age and insufficient generational replacement. For the current point figure, refer to the annual Driver Shortage Report by IRU published on iru.org.
Do PNRR-funded driving schools solve the problem?
They help at the margin but don't solve the structural problem. New driver training takes months, and the profession stays unattractive to young people without a systemic change in compensation, working conditions and image. Public funding is welcome but doesn't replace the forwarder's operational levers.
Can voice AI really compensate for driver shortage?
Voice AI doesn't replace drivers: no AI drives a truck on a highway. It compensates the shortage of office personnel (traffic manager, logistics customer service) by automating repetitive tracking calls. The result is the same internal team handles more shipment volume with the same quality.
Is it better to hire drivers or work with external carriers?
Depends on volume and strategy. Large forwarders prefer keeping a core fleet with employee drivers for critical lanes and using the external carrier network for variable volume and long lanes. The network must be exclusive and verified, not open, to guarantee priority availability.
How do you measure driver shortage impact on your business?
Three baseline KPIs: (1) average shipment assignment time (rising = harder sourcing), (2) percentage of shipments covered on first try (falling = harder sourcing), (3) average rate variation on recurring lanes (rising = carrier pricing power growing). Compare these year-over-year to quantify the problem.
Want to activate the 3 levers together on significant shipment volume? Request a private demo on the forwarders page or read the articles on exclusive carrier networks and voice AI tracking.