Ukraine’s freight transportation market is facing a shortage of personnel. Currently, transport companies lack up to 40,000 drivers.
The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Communities and Territories Development Deputy Minister Serhii Derkach in a commentary to Ukrinform.
“Speaking of large cargo transportation, about 130,000 trucks are currently involved in such operations. According to the data from carriers, 30% of them are standing idle due to a shortage of drivers. Therefore, the deficit is about 30,000-40,000 CE-category drivers. This is a huge figure and a difficult story. Several months ago, we visited a large company. They have 30 new large vehicles on the site. But, the owners say they have no one to drive them: contracts are in place, but there are no drivers,” Derkach told.
In his words, there is no quick solution to this issue. Hence, Ukraine’s Communities and Territories Development Ministry is initiating projects to train specialists for the market.
As an example, Derkach mentioned projects providing training for women drivers and veteran retraining programmes. The ministry is planning to launch a similar initiative for young people to attract as many professionals as possible.
“Why are we focusing on these categories? These people have no problems with reservation [from mobilization – Ed.]. Veterans, women have no problems with reservation. Therefore, we are working with these categories,” Derkach added.
Separately, the Ukrainian official noted that businesses had also resolved employee reservation issues, which were one of the reasons for personnel shortage on the transportation market last year.
“All transport companies, if they operate, especially in the field of international transport services, pay an appropriate salary. All of them can book 50% of their employees. But, there is a nuance: many people in companies are not directly involved in driving. Hence, businesses have faced a challenge: how to retain staff and properly retrain them in order to fit into the 50% quota and provide themselves with the most demanded professionals,” Derkach explained.
A reminder that, in cooperation with the Foundation for Institutional Development and with the support of the IREX’s Veteran Reintegration Program, the Ukrainian Communities and Territories Development Ministry is launching a project to retrain veterans for work in the field of transportation and logistics.
Source: Ukraine’s freight transportation market lacks about 40,000 drivers – Derkach
