The European road transport industry has been talking about the driver shortage for years, but the story has now moved beyond recruitment. It is becoming a story about who will keep freight moving, how quickly the labour market will change, and whether the systems used at the ramp are ready for a more international, more digital and more fraud exposed operating environment.
That figure matters on its own, but the deeper issue is that the shortage is structural. The workforce is ageing, too few younger workers are entering the profession, and the gap cannot realistically be closed only by recruiting within existing domestic labour pools. This is why third country recruitment has moved from a side conversation to a strategic necessity.
“Third country recruitment can complement domestic solutions, provided it is based on clear pathways, fair conditions and common EU standards.”
Bölüm 01Where the shift is most visible
The data already show where this shift is happening. A Trans.INFO summary of the IRU study reports that about 300,000 professional drivers from third countries were already working in the EU in 2023, representing 7.5 percent of all professional drivers in the Union and around 8 percent in freight transport.
| Country | Year | Third country drivers |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | End 2023 | 162,489 (incl. 88,000+ Ukrainian citizens) |
| Spain | 2021 | 19,787 |
Bölüm 02Every opening creates an opening for fraud
Without broader recruitment channels, Europe risks turning a labour shortage into a permanent capacity constraint. But the more fragmented, rushed and documentation heavy recruitment becomes, the easier it is for fraud to hide inside the process. That risk does not begin with cargo theft. It begins much earlier, at the point where companies have to verify whether the person presenting a licence, an ID card or an employment link is really who they claim to be.
In parallel, the wider cargo security environment is also deteriorating. Logistics Business noted that phantom carriers accounted for a significant share of the 930 million euro in cargo crime losses reported by TAPA EMEA in 2024, adding that a digital workflow without real identity verification does not prevent fraud, it only digitises it.
Bölüm 03Why this matters for digital freight
A sector that is bringing in more drivers from outside the EU, while also moving towards digital freight documents such as eCMR and eFTI, cannot rely on visual checks, photocopies and disconnected onboarding records. Logistics Business points out a practical problem that will become more visible in the next phase of freight digitisation: once eFTI becomes fully effective and eCMR workflows become standard, every driver will need to sign and authenticate documents digitally, but non EU drivers are outside the future EU Digital Identity wallet framework. If identity cannot be reliably verified at that point, the digital chain breaks exactly where freight becomes physical.
“Margins shape reality everywhere, and freight is no different. They are razor thin. Pressure on pay can fall below legal protections without partners knowing. That is illegal and creates a structural weakness. It is exploited by people posing as drivers who accept extremely low pay in a stretched system with missing checks, giving them a high chance of success. That is why we make sure you know who is behind the wheel, instantly and from anywhere. It protects real drivers and the load so you can focus on the people who keep freight moving.”
Bölüm 04From feature to infrastructure
Freight is becoming both more international and more digital at the same time. That means trust can no longer be based only on company names, paper credentials or personal familiarity. It has to be built into the workflow itself. This is why digital verification is likely to become more than a useful feature. It is likely to become infrastructure. Secure Logistics describes how digital identity frameworks in the container sector made it possible to link a worker’s identity to the employer and access permissions, helping to eliminate PIN code fraud in port logistics. The road freight market is moving toward a similar need, especially as driver sourcing becomes more global and fraud actors become more professional.