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The trucking industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers. We asked Freightsafe’s Head of Business Development, Sholto Millar, what can be done to improve the working conditions of long-haul truck drivers.
Global | Geneva

A new model for today’s long-haul truckers

25 Mar 2024 · People

The trucking industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers. We asked Freightsafe’s Head of Business Development, Sholto Millar, what can be done to improve the working conditions of long-haul truck drivers.

IRU’s latest driver shortage survey found that over three million truck driver positions are currently unfilled in 36 countries, a grim figure which is projected to double by 2028 without significant action.

The report also features best practices and measures to make the profession more accessible and attractive.

Here’s how IRU member Freightsafe is working to improve truck drivers’ working conditions.  

What are the key challenges linked to driver shortages?

With an ageing driver population, the problem of driver shortages has steadily worsened over the past 20 years. Today, the average age of a driver is 47 years old in Europe. The profession is struggling to attract enough new drivers to meet demand for road freight services.

The severe lack of safe and secure parking conditions is one issue holding back the profession. Addressing this critical issue has been at the heart of our work.

But we’re increasingly realising that the time spent away from home, family and friends while conducting long-haul operations is another reason why young people are less tempted to take up the profession.

For prospective drivers, especially younger ones, this has been a significant barrier, as the demand for spending weeks away from home can hamper one's social life. 

Unfortunately, fewer drivers joining the long-haul industry means higher workloads for those already in function. We need to improve their working conditions as much as possible.

What solution is Freightsafe providing? 

Freightsafe designs, builds and operates modular truck parking and charging areas, using the concept of the “sharing economy”. 

All our parking areas are built by repurposing existing truck-related real estate (such as depots, repair centres and ports). We install truck parking infrastructure connected to the Bosch Secure Truck Parking reservation platform. This infrastructure has both physical and digital access control solutions, allowing users to guarantee their space with a physical barrier linked to their digital reservation. 

After Sweden, Germany and Spain, we will soon launch our sixth site near Nürnberg, Germany, with plans for our first Italian site later this year. 

All Freightsafe sites are designed to be retrofittable with chargers for electric vehicles, supporting the transition towards electrification and the future of trucking.

How does it work?

Freightsafe operates primarily on a customer-led approach, leveraging the power of the sharing economy to locate sites in a chosen area. The host of a Freightsafe Park & Charge hub receives a monthly payment in exchange for the space they’ve used. This creates a “site within a site” in which they are not required to invest, operate or take liability for any aspects. Users can sign long-term contracts for guaranteed use of the site. 

Alternatively, the site can be operated as a public pay-as-you-park system, where trucks reserve their space ahead of time. The dispatcher makes a reservation on the Bosch platform and is sent the pre-set access control medium for the site (ANPR cameras, QR codes, RFID cards or a web link) to open the gate. Once the driver arrives at the site, they use the chosen medium and can access their individual parking (and charging) space. Once rested, the driver simply leaves and the user is invoiced monthly.

What is the new “trailer drop and swap” operating model?

The “trailer drop and swap” model is built on the concept of relays like the Pony Express of the 1800s. 

Rather than driving multi-day routes across Europe, drivers operate their trucks on a single route within a larger relay network. 

The trucking industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers. We asked Freightsafe’s Head of Business Development, Sholto Millar, what can be done to improve the working conditions of long-haul truck drivers.
The trucking industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers. We asked Freightsafe’s Head of Business Development, Sholto Millar, what can be done to improve the working conditions of long-haul truck drivers.
The trucking industry is facing a chronic shortage of drivers. We asked Freightsafe’s Head of Business Development, Sholto Millar, what can be done to improve the working conditions of long-haul truck drivers.

In an ideal world, driver A drives the load to point one where they meet driver B. Both drivers swap their trailers and return to base, from where they can return home every evening. Given the complexity of the logistics industry, it is rarely that simple, but the principle remains. If necessary, meeting points must be established where trailers can be securely parked until they are collected. This is one of Freightsafe's key focus areas. 

What are the benefits for drivers and transport companies?

In terms of driver shortage, the primary benefit is making the profession much more attractive for prospective drivers. This system offers a greatly improved work-life balance for drivers who can perform short-haul routes for long-haul operations. 

For companies that have adopted this model, it has already had a noticeable effect on their ability to hire new drivers. Considering the ever-growing number of unfilled driver positions in the world and the difficulty to fill them, the drop and swap model is an efficient solution for transport and logistics companies.

How can the industry and governments help to make this solution more widely available?

Interestingly, both the drop and swap concept and the sharing economy are well-suited to the electrification of the road transport industry. 

While decarbonising the industry, it is vital that we build new operating models that suit the new technologies rather than trying to fit them into the existing model. We believe that the incentive for logistics providers is the ability to fund charging infrastructure through shared hubs, and to run relays with battery-electric trucks to overcome range limitations. 

At the policy level, this needs to translate into the promotion of new concepts and support, through subsidies, for transport companies willing to test them. The existing diesel road transport industry has had over 100 years to optimise its model. Those building the models of the future must be given time and support to reach a similar level of maturity.

More solutions implemented by road transport associations and companies – such as ASTIC, CEVA Logistics and Scania – as well as governments to improve the accessibility and attractiveness of the profession are available in IRU’s 2023 Global Freight Driver Shortage Report.

The report, which is based on a survey of more than 4,700 trucking companies in the Americas, Asia and Europe, representing 72% of global GDP, includes sections on:

  • The impact of economic trends
  • Driver shortages
    • Current level of shortage
    • Demographic trends
    • 2028 forecast
  • The profession’s accessibility and attractiveness
    • Barriers closing off the profession
    • Solutions and best practices implemented by companies and governments

 

Download the report