Pilot coach – that sounds like something linked to aviation. But it is, in fact, very down-to-earth as we’re talking about the kings of the road: truck drivers. So that they can fulfil their tasks responsibly and to the best of their ability, the haulier Reinert Logistics trains special driving trainers. After all, it is about much more than just manoeuvring the drawbar trailer from the loading point to the unloading point.

On 8 March, it is International Women’s Day – it has been a public holiday in Berlin since 2019, while in other countries, such as Russia and Vietnam, it has been for much longer. How are women faring in logistics? The best way to find out what’s going well and where difficulties lie is for successful women in logistics to tell us themselves.

What does a Transport Ambassador actually do? Neither the Federal Foreign Office nor Wikipedia has an answer to this question. Perhaps it’s best asking someone who already has this title on their business card, such as Jens Thiermann, Chair of the Die Transportbotschafter (The Transport Ambassadors) e. V. association.

According to the German Haulage, Logistics and Waste Disposal Federation (abbreviated BGL in German), German motorways lack 35,000 to 40,000 parking spaces for trucks. What can be done about this? A software company has developed an innovative system that creates three to four times as many parking spaces in a given area, thus solving several problems at the same time – the ‘TruckTower’ is an environmentally friendly truck parking facility and an inexpensive hotel for truck drivers in one.

Logistics is suffering from a severe lack of drivers – the profession has lost its appeal and its image is suffering. The ‘PROFI – Pro Fahrer-Image’ initiative aims to change this and ensure that industry, retail, the transport sector and the general public once again appreciate professional drivers for what they are, namely one of the most important players in the logistics chain. In an interview, Professor Dirk Engelhardt, chairman of the board of Germany’s Federal Road Freight Transport, Logistics and Waste Management Association (abbreviated BGL in German), and Ralf Merkelbach, key account manager for major fleets in Europe at BPW Bergische Achsen, explain how the initiative plans to achieve this goal.

When around 125 trucks drive onto the large motorway service area in Schwabhausen, near Gotha in the German state of Thuringia, quite a few of the people watching have tears in their eyes and goosebumps . This is because there’s a child in every driver’s cab that is enjoying a very special happy day today. ‘A Happy Day of Life’ is the name of the annual charity event that gives children and young people from difficult backgrounds the opportunity to go for a ride in a real truck.

Professional truck drivers who need medical assistance during a journey often do not know how to find a doctor near them who can treat them at short notice. And where can they park their 40-tonne truck during the visit? The DocStop initiative has created a network that provides truck drivers with quick and straightforward help in such situations.

The association “Allianz im deutschen Transportwesen e.V.” gives truck drivers a voice and advocates fair wages and accident prevention.

What kind of drive will the commercial vehicle of the future have? Logistics entrepreneur Jochen Köppen from Duisburg in Germany is looking for answers and has therefore decided to retrofit one-tenth of its fleet starting spring 2019.

Trucks have a polarising effect: often scorned by car drivers and loved by long-distance truckers. But where does the magic of a truck come from?