“You can’t find workers,” says Michael Rauhofer. The head of Dachser’s logistics location in Hörsching about the lack of truck drivers and what the service provider is doing about it now.
Closed ports, scarcity of freight containers – the pandemic has shown how quickly supply chains can rupture. “As a result, companies are even more interested in storing things just in case,” says Michael Rauhofer, head of the Dachser branch in Hörsching.
The logistics service provider invested more than four million euros in the expansion of the location next to the airport. “We were bursting at the seams for that and rented four additional storage units,” says Rauhofer.
Customers from different areas use Dachser’s know-how: heating systems, baking mixes, tool sheds and boxes are stored and delivered. 210 employees work on the site. The need would be even greater. “But there are no workers,” says Rauhofer. The growing shortage of drivers also affects Dachser, although the company has outsourced the transport itself to forwarders.
Companies already park vehicles
“If we don’t get the driver shortage under control, every lockdown would be a children’s party,” emphasizes the Freistadt resident. Because the truck transport of foodstuffs, raw materials and the like keeps life going. Companies that work for Dachser already park vehicles because there are no drivers.
The company has started training its own driver apprentices. Ten are currently on an internship. Four own trucks were even purchased for this: two will arrive in the first quarter of 2023, two in the fourth quarter. The work is demanding: “Such a driver stops 20 times during a trip to unload goods, it is tiring – physically and mentally.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
