anglais seul.

SEMINAIRE DE L’ACADEMIE DE L’IRU 2007

CONCLUSIONS

YVES MANNAERTS
Director, FBAA, Belgium

Amsterdam, Pays-Bas
27 septembre 2007

First, a general introduction:

• The Driver shortage and driver training are possibly the most critical medium to long term issues affecting the road transport sector.
• Road transport companies are effectively crippled if they cannot deploy the right number of drivers at the right time with the right skills for the job.
• A skilled occupation offers rewards: professional pride, job confidence, a good salary. An employer who offers such rewards attracts and retains people.
• Skills come with experience but in an increasingly technologically driven and specialised industry there are some skills that can only be gained through expert training.
• Training is the key to making road transport a career of choice for a 21st century workforce.

Let us ask ourselves the question: “How serious is the driver shortage?”

• We have heard through Menno Menist from NEA that there is a very serious driver shortfall in Europe.
• We also heard much that was said about the geographical extent of the problem. Clearly driver shortages are not just issues for mature economies in Western Europe and North America. They exist wherever there are competitive job markets and relatively low unemployment. But even emerging economies are experiencing a driver shortfall when those countries’ most skilled drivers go abroad in search of better salaries.
• We need to look to the future – the average age of drivers is rapidly increasing towards an ageing workforce. Unless we attract young drivers into the profession our current problems will be multiplied in 15 to 20 years time.

The underlying problems:

• This morning’s discussions also examined what could be considered as the underlying causes of the driver shortage:

• Firstly over the last few years we have been fortunate to experience a period of sustained economic growth. Road transport demand unfailingly keeps pace with economic growth, but the sector’s workforce has not equally expanded to meet this demand.
• Why are drivers leaving the profession? Long and unsociable hours? Or … Technological change, which does not attract drivers either! Increasingly complex and less flexible legislation, like the new driving and rest time regulations, perversely meant that drivers spend more time at weekends on the road away from family and friends.
• Low wages are a factor (as also discussed during the seminar).
• But there are broader cultural and social reasons.
• Rising levels of education and career expectations tend to push workers into other career directions.
• The era of mass tourism, cheap travel and the removal of travel restrictions in former Communist states means that a career in road transport no longer offers a unique opportunity to ‘see the world’.
• Then there is the negative image of the profession held by the general public and a lack of knowledge amongst young people about the advantages and opportunities in road transport.

How to restore the image of the profession?

• The general public has very limited knowledge about the sector. They need to be made aware of the net benefits to society; social, consumer and economic, which are only made possible through, you guessed it … road transport.
• The myths about the low skilled, low paid truck driver with few prospects are wrong and must be changed.
• We heard many ideas about educational campaigns that could be developed for the general public, particularly ones to dispel the myths about professional drivers and road safety.
• School and university career advisors should have better information about careers in road transport and the job opportunities available, both at driver and management level. The IRU will produce a video on the many positive aspects of working in this industry also.
• As a critical factor, today, we all recognised the importance of driver training in boosting the quality and thereby the image of our sector.

A few words on Driver Training and the related implementation concerns based on Round Tables 3 and 4:

• That final comment on this morning’s discussions leads us conveniently to the discussions we have had this afternoon on driver training.
• Our first set of panellists described concerns about the implementation of the Directive 2003/59 and the use of simulators in driver training.
• Also, it does seem that many countries in Europe do not seem to have the necessary driver training centres and other facilities in order to be able to award, from 2008 onward, certificates of professional competence. We must prevail on Governments to play their part – through subsidies if necessary – to make sure that sufficient training and testing infrastructure is available to meet the demands of the new legislation.
• Concerning driver training simulators we should seize the many positive opportunities that modern technology can bring to driver training. Nothing can replace real life experience in the cab and on the road, but modern technology such as simulators can be used to broaden training and experience. How else could a driver undergoing training in Greece get an impression of what it is like to drive in the snows of Finland?
• We then considered carefully about how proper driver training can be linked to the career development of drivers. If we want to build the reputation of the road transport industry as a career with a structured path of professional development, a golden standard of training qualifications needs to be established and recognised. What better to harmonise and drive standards than the full exploitation of the IRU Academy and its system of Driver Certificates and Manager Diplomas that are recognised globally, testimony to a Graduate’s professional competence, endorsed by European and international intergovernmental bodies, and available online (to counter falsification) to prospective employers, clients and authorities.
• Overall, at first glance, we might consider that the EU Driver Training Directive introduces yet another obstacle to the supply of drivers to road transport companies, because of implementation concerns and costs. Perhaps it is a short term bottleneck for the supply of drivers, but in the future it should establish much stronger foundations on which to base the future workforce needs of the road transport industry. Moreover, safer, more efficient drivers who have learnt for example how to minimise fuel consumption – as required by the Directive – will, improve a company’s bottom line.

And then last but not least there is the forthcoming Directive on access to the road transport market and the profession:

• Today was a useful occasion to review where we are now and where we hope to be in the future, but as we heard from Remy Mayet the situation concerning access to the profession is about to undergo a further transformation in the EU.
• In his overview of the new draft legislation he outlined that not only transport drivers but companies too will face new challenges to enter the sector.
• In many ways I welcome these changes. I want the road transport industry to be composed of the best companies and to make clear that substandard operators who cannot or will not play by the rules of the game are not welcome.
• The IRU will of course try to make sure that these new requirements are proportionate to this goal.

My Final Remarks …

• In a global economy it does not matter if a company is big or small. It is the quality of service that matters and this is particularly true for road transport.
• Firstly only skilled professionals can make this difference and you can only become a skilled professional through the right combination of training and experience.
• Thirdly and finally, once people understand that the road transport sector is an industry where skilled professionals want to work and where they go to maximise their potential, then we can look forward to the time when there will be no more driver shortage.

* * * * *

[ top ]