Great Britain transport crisis: there are no truckers and the army arrives. The consequences for Italy

Britain is in the grip of what is now known as the ‘truck driver crisis’, the shortage of heavy truck drivers that is putting the supply chain at risk. The scenes depicting petrol stations closed due to running out of petrol have been circulating for days, but basic necessities and raw materials for the island’s production plants are also in short supply. In many cases, products manufactured in the UK fail to take the export route due to a lack of trucks. Boris Johnson’s government has announced the granting of 10,500 temporary visas for all those foreign drivers who want to work in Great Britain, but in order not to interrupt logistic chains that have already been tried, it has activated the army: from Monday 4 October the military will drive the heavy vehicles of the armed forces to help distribute fuel, which is strategic in order not to paralyze the country. A situation that for many observers is caused by Brexit, but could something similar also happen in Italy?

THE WHY OF THE BRITISH CRISIS

—

On the reasons for the crisis that led to a significant reduction in the number of truck drivers in the United Kingdom, Gazzetta Motori had recently asked the opinion of Andy Cozens, manager for the European and Asian market of SmartDrive Systems, an American intelligence company for the safety of transport that uses technology to monitor and improve the behavior of truck drivers. Cozens has identified four key reasons, which combined are causing significant damage to the UK delivery sector. The first it is the change in the regulations governing the work of foreign citizens in post-Brexit Britain, a squeeze between permits and work visas that are difficult to obtain and which has put many foreigners on the run. The second reason is to be found in the anti-Covid rules: despite having passed the mandatory quarantine, drivers who cross the borders of European countries must undergo careful checks, which inevitably cause long queues. As a result, many of them prefer to work only on domestic routes, a phenomenon that affects all countries and which in the UK is aggravated by the long lines inbound for trucks from the mainland. Ergo, many European drivers have gone home. The third point What Cozens highlights is the low number of new driving licenses issued in Britain due to the pandemic. In short, there are no new recruits among road hauliers, those who could (at least in part) compensate for the flight of colleagues of other nationalities. In the end, the fourth cause, connected to the previous point: for years the work of driver has been underestimated and underpaid, relegated to a profession for foreigners with the obvious consequence of not having a turnover of national professionals. The average age of British drivers is 52, which is high. The combination of the four factors is a perfect storm: “Between 90,000 and 100,000 drivers are missing. Many of my clients are offering salary increases of up to € 20,000 and paying bonuses to encourage their employees to stay with the company, ”said Andy Cozens.

DOES ITALY ALSO RISK?

—

A crisis that has several reasons, some of which have similarities with the Italian situation. For some time, in fact, companies in the road haulage sector have been complaining of difficulties in finding qualified drivers and according to the estimates of the sector associations, at least 20,000 are missing. Of course, we are not yet at UK levels, but the alarm bell must ring loud and clear if we do not want to find ourselves in a situation that would jeopardize the post-pandemic recovery. In Italy, drivers find themselves having to face strong competition from foreign colleagues, especially those from Eastern Europe. The rapidly improving health situation in Romania is pushing the economy and production activities, as a consequence many truck drivers who previously worked in the rest of Europe have decided to return to their homeland. A serious problem also for Italy, a country that has always recruited drivers from Eastern Europe.