Urgently Wanted: Professional Truck Drivers
Author: Georg Weinand
Participants who complete DEKRA's professional driver training in Norderstedt are practically guaranteed a job. This is due to two factors in particular: the shortage of drivers in Europe and the quality of DEKRA training.
An expression of gratitude rolling in on four wheels: When a black truck unexpectedly drove into the yard of the DEKRA Service Center in Norderstedt, honking its horn, site manager Ingo Sonntag initially wondered in irritation why the driver was making such a noise at the wheel. But he quickly recognized Erich Müller*, who wanted to thank him once again for his successful training with this visit. Thanks to his professional driver training at DEKRA, Müller had found a job with a renowned logistics company that specializes in transporting luxury and sports cars. A jackpot hit for any driver.
The Hamburg Service Center has been training professional drivers for decades and cooperates with private companies, public transport companies and the Hamburg Job Center. “The demand for training is high and we are constantly seeing companies actively approaching us to recruit new drivers,” says Sonntag. In the meantime, starting salaries in the industry have also become more attractive: “Salaries between 3,200 and 3,800 euros gross are no longer a rarity.”
DEKRA works particularly close with the Hamburger Hochbahn AG, for which 80 to 100 bus drivers are trained every year. Applicants either apply directly for the position at the company or are placed by the job center. For people changing careers, there is also the option of completing the training with an education voucher.
Migrants receive extensive German lessons
Each year, around 150 participants undergo training to become professional drivers, in addition to around 30 people who are preparing for a job as a service driver. In Germany, an increasing proportion of participants are migrants, particularly from Ukraine. “To ensure that they are able to communicate in everyday working life later on, they complete 200 hours of German lessons during their training,” explains Sonntag. In addition, all participants undergo an occupational medical examination, which includes vision and reaction tests, as well as a check of their traffic points account with the German traffic violation account in Flensburg.
The training is carried out in accordance with strict legal requirements and includes theory and driving lessons as well as the accelerated basic qualification and a theoretical and practical test. This is followed by a three-month internship phase in a company, during which the learner drivers have to prove their knowledge in practice. In local public transport in particular, other skills are required in addition to safe vehicle handling: “Our bus drivers not only have to be able to handle city traffic, but also understand scheduled services, use the radio correctly and communicate with passengers,” says Sonntag.
It's virtually a job guarantee
Ever since the DEKRA Akademie was founded in 1981, the training of professional drivers has been the core business of the service center in Norderstedt. Graduates have excellent job prospects: “Those who successfully complete the training usually get a job,” says Sonntag. This is because the industry is suffering from a shortage of drivers. According to estimates, Germany currently faces a shortage of around 60,000 to 80,000 professional drivers - a gap that is likely to widen further due to growing online trade and increasing transport volumes. Forecasts by the International Road Union (IRU) predict that there could even be a shortage of around 185,000 professional drivers in Germany by 2027. However, the driver shortage is also a European problem: the continent currently faces a shortage of 550,000 drivers. Without suitable countermeasures, this shortage could even increase by 17 percent over the next five years. Although there is great interest in training, potential applicants are often put off by the working conditions. Long working hours, traffic jams and waiting times for loading and unloading make the profession less attractive. Women are still underrepresented in the industry: Their share of the workforce is around six percent. The proportion of drivers under the age of 25 is also only five percent.
The DEKRA training focuses on a balanced relationship between theory and practice as well as a tight alignment with the requirements of the companies. “Our training is based on the legal requirements, but we can adapt certain modules, for example on load securing, to operational circumstances,” Sonntag explains. However, such adaptations must be approved, which results in additional costs. In practice, companies therefore usually prefer standardized modules that guarantee flexible deployment options for drivers.
A self-driving truck that compensates for the shortage of skilled workers? According to Sonntag, this remains a distant dream: “In road freight and passenger transport in particular, it will be decades before automated driving is established across the board.” Training qualified drivers therefore remains essential for the transport and logistics industry. Which means that Ingo Sonntag will soon be able to look forward to a happy, honking driver at his company's depot again.
* name altered for editorial purposes