Regarding the planned changes at the Federal Ministry of Transport concerning our profession, I have once again sent an open letter to the Federal Ministry of Transport and described the situation from the driver’s perspective, which is often overlooked in all discussions about recruiting new drivers.
Here is the open letter to the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport:
Open Letter to the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport: Combating the Driver Shortage Means Improving Working Conditions
To the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Invalidenstraße 44 10115 Berlin
Subject: Your announced measures against the driver shortage – Proposals and questions from the practice of a professional truck driver
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
On October 14, 2026, the industry portal Trans.info reported on the initiatives presented by your ministry at the logistics network meeting in Berlin . Among other things, the focus was on easing access to the profession of truck driver, recognizing foreign driving licenses, reducing bureaucracy, and improving highway infrastructure.
As a professional truck driver who has been active in road freight transport since 1995, I welcome every initiative that aims to make our profession more attractive and eliminate existing problems.
However, I miss a crucial perspective in the announced measures: that of those who have already been behind the wheel for years or decades.
For a long time, discussions have taken place on how to attract additional people to the profession. Training models are being revised, recognition procedures are being simplified, and new possibilities for recruiting personnel are being sought. However, in my opinion, the question of why experienced professional truck drivers leave their profession or at least seriously consider doing so receives far too little attention.
This is exactly where a sustainable strategy against the driver shortage should start.
Because it helps little to always train new people for road freight transport if others leave the industry again due to working conditions.
I know that your time is valuable and not designed for reading longer letters or emails. Nevertheless, I ask you to take the time to read my somewhat longer email, because improvements must come not only from the perspective of companies but also from the perspective of drivers; things must change so that the profession becomes attractive and remains so.
The driver shortage is also a result of working conditions
I have already dealt with the causes of this development in my article „The driver shortage is not a recruitment problem – but a symptom of an industry under pressure“ .
After more than three decades in the profession, I have experienced numerous changes and met different transport companies. There are and were indeed employers who pay their drivers well, plan their routes reasonably, and treat their personnel respectfully.
However, I also know the other side.
Long working hours, last-minute changes to route planning, hour-long waiting times at loading ramps, and the increasing transfer of additional tasks belong to the daily life of many professional truck drivers.
It becomes particularly problematic when drivers have almost no influence on their daily routine. Whoever stands on time in front of a ramp in the morning, waits there for several hours for processing, and then must already adhere to the next fixed loading appointment, can hardly plan their evening reliably.
This affects not only personal leisure activities. It also makes reconciling work and family difficult and can lead to significant stress in the long term.
Therefore, the industry should not only ask why too few young people take up the profession. It should also deal with why already trained professional truck drivers switch to other occupations.
I would welcome it if your ministry took corresponding investigations more seriously and developed concrete measures together with employees to retain existing skilled workers in the profession for the long term.
The tasks of a professional truck driver need clearer boundaries
A concrete example of working conditions is the increasing transfer of warehouse work to driving personnel.
In my contribution „One paragraph, a thousand experts – legal myths in the transport industry“ , I have already dealt extensively with § 412 HGB and the responsibilities for loading and unloading.
The provision generally regulates the responsibilities of the freight contract parties. However, it does not contain a general prohibition for professional truck drivers to carry out corresponding work.
I also do not consider such a blanket ban on loading and unloading to be effective.
In wood transport, for example, working with a loading crane naturally belongs to the driver’s tasks. The same applies to many tank and silo transports as well as other areas where independent loading and unloading is part of the transport performance.
However, it looks different when drivers are supposed to take over additional warehouse work after the actual unloading.
Especially in central warehouses of large retail companies and discounters, drivers must sometimes not only bring the goods from the vehicle onto the ramp but also remove transport films, repack pallets, sort goods, or prepare load carriers for further processing in the warehouse.
In doing so, they take on tasks that actually belong to the internal warehouse logistics of the recipient of goods.
Here I propose a legal clarification.
Discharging transported goods up to the agreed handover point (immediately behind the unloading ramp) may be part of the transport service. However, additional work beyond this handover point should generally not be required of professional drivers.
In this context, necessary exceptions for certain types of transport and expressly agreed transport-related activities must be taken into account.
I am not trying to prevent sensible business processes; rather, I aim for a clear delineation of responsibilities.
If a driver has delivered the goods properly at the agreed location, they should not subsequently be used as a substitute for missing warehouse staff.
An appropriate regulation could prevent additional warehouse tasks from being increasingly shifted onto drivers through general contract terms or operational directives from the consignees.
I therefore request your ministry to examine whether such a legal delineation is possible and what changes in transport or labour law would be required for this purpose.
In this connection, the responsibility of clients should also be given greater consideration.
Article 10(4) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 includes shippers, freight forwarders, principal contractors, and subcontractors in the responsibility to ensure that agreed transport schedules are compatible with European social regulations.
In my view, it would be sensible to improve the enforcement of this existing responsibility, rather than leaving the consequences of poorly organised transport operations primarily with the executing companies and their drivers.
Less bureaucracy should benefit not only businesses
The announced simplification of access to the profession is fundamentally sensible. I have already addressed this topic in my article “Access to the profession as a professional driver: New facilitations” .
If unnecessary duplicate checks and overlapping training content can be avoided, that should be welcomed. Professional qualification and road safety must, of course, remain guaranteed.
However, reducing bureaucracy should not end with training.
Even experienced professional drivers must regularly incur significant financial and organisational expenses to continue exercising their already learned profession.
Currently, we require three different documents: the driving licence, the driver card for the digital tachograph, and the driver qualification certificate.
These documents have different validity periods, application procedures, and fees.
I can illustrate this with my own experience.
I obtained my Class C/CE driving licence in 2004. The driver card was added to me only in 2007. In 2009, I had to renew my driving licence, followed by a new driver card in 2012.
Since then, these renewals have run with staggered timelines. While one document is still valid, the next must already be applied for.
In the meantime, the separate driver qualification certificate has been added.
Why should it not be possible to combine the functions of these three documents onto a single card in the future?
The required authorisations could be managed separately on it and updated independently where possible. Even if a full merger cannot be realised in the short term, at least a joint application procedure and better-coordinated renewal deadlines would be conceivable.
I am aware that the driver card is subject to special safety requirements and that the corresponding documents are partly regulated by European provisions.
If these provisions prevent a merger, I explicitly urge the federal government to advocate for corresponding changes at the European level.
Because reducing bureaucracy should not end where European legal provisions begin. Cross-border road freight transport would be a suitable area for uniform and simpler procedures across Europe.
This is not only about administrative effort but also about significant costs.
For the prescribed five continuing education modules, fees range between 90 and 130 euros per module depending on the provider. This results in just 450 to 650 euros for continuing education alone within five years.
In addition come the necessary medical examinations, fees for the driving licence, driver card, and driver qualification certificate, as well as costs for passport photos.
Thus, within a five-year period, amounts of 600 to 800 euros or more can accumulate so that an already trained professional driver may continue to exercise their profession.
Of course, some employers cover these costs wholly or partially. However, this is not the case for all employees.
I therefore consider it sensible to consider not only the one-off costs of entering the profession but also the recurring costs throughout the entire professional life.
My proposal is therefore to examine the merger of the three documents, simplified renewal procedures, and a reduction of recurring fees.
If changes to European provisions are required for this, Germany should initiate a corresponding initiative at the EU level.
Better rest facilities are not just an additional luxury
The announced improvements to highway rest areas are also urgently necessary from the driver’s perspective.
Following the nationwide parking space survey in 2023, there were around 19,630 regular truck parking spaces missing on and at German autobahns.
Anyone who regularly travels long-haul knows the consequences.
In the evening, numerous parking lots are completely full. Drivers must keep searching, even though their remaining driving time is limited. At the same time, sanitary facilities are often inadequate or missing entirely in many places.
A clean toilet and a reasonable washing facility should not be considered special luxuries. They belong among the basic prerequisites for people who have to stay overnight regularly due to their profession.
Furthermore, there is the issue of sleep quality at rest areas along the motorways. Many truck parking spaces are still arranged in such a way that the driver’s cabins face directly onto the passing traffic. Vehicles roll by around the clock, while only some of the rest areas have effective noise protection. Although the driver’s cabins dampen this noise, it does not disappear completely. Those who must spend their daily rest period there therefore do not always find the conditions necessary for a restful sleep.
Another problem becomes particularly apparent during the summer months. When planning new parking spaces or expanding existing rest areas, attention is often focused primarily on accommodating as many vehicles as possible. The living conditions for drivers apparently fall into the background in this process.
Those who have to take their daily rest period during the day due to their working hours know the situation well: the truck stands in the scorching sun for hours, the driver’s cabin heats up continuously, and a restful sleep becomes increasingly impossible.
Compounding this is the fact that a stationary air conditioning system, which allows the driver’s cabin to be cooled even with the engine off, is not yet a mandatory piece of equipment for trucks used in overnight traffic across Europe. Consequently, many drivers are dependent on how temperatures develop inside their cab and what cooling options their respective vehicle offers.
At summer temperatures, a driver’s cabin can quickly turn into a sauna. The fact that professional drivers should then be able to safely operate a vehicle with a total weight of up to 40 tonnes through road traffic highlights the importance of adequate recovery opportunities.
Much could already be improved when planning rest areas.
Why, for example, are new or expanded truck parking spaces not planned with more covered parking areas? One option would be to equip such canopies with photovoltaic systems.
This would allow several problems to be addressed simultaneously. Vehicles would no longer be directly exposed to solar radiation during the summer months, meaning their cabins could heat up less. At the same time, solar power could be generated on the already sealed surfaces, which could be used for the infrastructure of rest areas or for charging facilities for electric commercial vehicles.
Such canopies could also offer advantages in winter. Vehicles standing protected under a corresponding structure would be less directly exposed to snow and freezing precipitation. This could also reduce the accumulation of snow and ice on the superstructures.
In particular, ice plates that detach from truck roofs while driving pose a significant danger to other road users. A canopy would not replace the necessary control and removal of ice and snow, but it could already contribute to reducing such hazards.
Of course, such facilities would need to be sufficiently high and wide, leave the required shunting areas free, and meet the special requirements of heavy goods transport. The economic viability and constructional prerequisites would also need to be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Nevertheless, I consider it sensible to seriously examine this approach for future rest areas and expansions of existing parking areas.
After all, if significant public funds are already invested in expanding truck parking spaces, these areas should not be viewed exclusively from the perspective of parking capacity. Equally important are the living conditions for those who must spend their legally mandated rest periods there.
The fact that these problems have been known for years and still require discussion about corresponding improvements in 2026 shows the existing need for action.
I therefore expressly welcome the announced investments, but I would like concrete information on additional parking spaces, sanitary facilities, noise protection measures, and possibilities for weather-protected design of truck parking areas. This also includes information on financing and implementation deadlines.
Digital parking information systems can facilitate the search for free parking spaces. However, they do not create a single additional parking space and do not automatically improve the conditions under which drivers spend their rest periods there.
Possible parking time limits should also be carefully examined so that drivers are not additionally disadvantaged in complying with their legally mandated rest periods.
Bringing retired drivers back – instead of addressing the causes of the shortage?
The proposal discussed at the network meeting to allow retired professional drivers a simplified extension of their driving licence particularly makes me think.
Of course, there is nothing against an ex-professional driver voluntarily continuing to drive a truck occasionally after retirement and meeting the required health prerequisites.
However, this approach reminds me of recalling employees from their well-deserved vacation because the tree is burning in the company.
This may help bridge a personnel shortage in the short term, but it does not eliminate the causes that led to this shortage in the first place.
If the transport industry now wishes to recall former drivers from retirement, I believe it is at least equally important to engage with those who have left the profession long before reaching retirement age.
What needs to change so that these people would like to work as professional drivers again?
What conditions must companies provide to retain their employees in the long term?
And why do some freight forwarders succeed in employing their drivers for decades, while others regularly need to search for new personnel?
I consider it more sensible to place such questions more strongly at the center of political discussion, rather than continuously expanding the search for additional driver capacity.
What has come out of the previous discussions?
The discussion about better working conditions and the driver shortage is not new.
Between 2022 and 2023, talks took place at the Round Table on a federal level, where corresponding improvements were discussed.
Therefore, I would like to know what results actually emerged from these talks.
What measures have been implemented, which are still being processed, and which projects could not be realized so far?
A comprehensible balance sheet would be helpful in my view before new measures are announced again.
Furthermore, I consider it necessary to involve employed professional drivers and their representation bodies more strongly in the development of corresponding concepts.
Companies and business associations naturally have legitimate interests. However, these are not identical with the interests of employees in all questions.
Therefore, whoever speaks about the driver shortage, working conditions, and the future of road freight transport should not only listen to those who organize and assign transports, but also to those who carry them out daily.
It is not enough to always win new drivers
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
I do not wish to fundamentally question the announced measures of your ministry with this letter.
A simplified training, fewer bureaucratic obstacles, and better rest facilities can certainly contribute to the attractiveness of the profession.
However, the political discussion must not remain at acquiring additional labor force.
Road freight transport needs working conditions in the long term under which people can happily practice their profession and preferably until retirement.
This includes adequate remuneration, more reliable working hours, clear limits on additional activities, and a functioning infrastructure. Equally important is the consistent enforcement of existing regulations against all parties involved within the transport chain.
Therefore, I request your ministry to provide a written statement, in particular regarding which concrete measures are planned for the long-term retention of existing professional drivers, whether a legal distinction between transport performance and additional warehouse work could be examined, and how recurring costs as well as the administrative effort for professionally required documents can be reduced.
Furthermore, I would like to know what results have emerged from the previous talks on the driver shortage and in what form professional drivers and their representation bodies should be involved in future political consultations.
Insofar as changes at the European level are necessary, I also request an assessment of whether your ministry would support corresponding initiatives.
I will publish this letter on my blog. I would also document a substantive statement from your office there, so that other professional drivers can also inform themselves about the planned measures.
The driver shortage cannot be permanently eliminated by continuously winning new people for the profession while others leave it due to existing working conditions.
Therefore, whoever really wants to make a change must not only facilitate access to the profession but also improve the conditions under which it is practiced.
Sincerely,
Christian Rumpf Professional driver since 1995 Operator of Christians Blog https://www.christiansblog.eu
Related Publications
Occasion for the Open Letter
Own Publications
- The driver shortage is not a youth problem – Causes, EU regulations, and challenges
- Access to the profession as a professional driver: New facilitations
- One paragraph, a thousand experts – Legal myths in the transport industry
Legal Basis
