Transport and logistics decision-makers are under a lot of pressure. Mental and movement coach Maria Senz explains how they can deal with this pressure and even use it productively.

Nürburgring in July 2022, a Saturday afternoon on the sidelines of the Truck Grand Prix. We are in contact with professional drivers Peter Matthies, René Werner and Michael Finkbeiner, who is also a freight forwarder. They talk about their challenges – and explain why they still love their job.

According to the German Road Haulage, Logistics and Waste Management Association (BGL), there will be a shortage of 80,000 lorry drivers in Germany in 2022. Many haulage companies are at a loss as to how they can find and keep staff. A new study now aims to identify solutions.

If one’s own children do not take over the forwarding company, another solution must be found. Dr Marc Evers, Head of the Department for SMEs, Business Start-ups, Company Succession of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, explains how to find the right person for the succession – and when to start the search.

Germany already has a shortage of between 60,000 and 80,000 truck drivers.
-drivers. How do you still attract good people to fill vacancies? And how do you keep them? We present eight approaches from practice that could still use many supporters.

Every year, the best graduates of the training programme for freight forwarding and logistics services can apply for the title “Young Freight Forwarder Germany”. To do so, they present a creative solution for a logistics task to the expert jury.

Es ist vergleichbar mit der „Reise nach Jerusalem“ – allerdings ohne den Spaßfaktor des Spiels. Tausende Lkw-Fahrer suchen jeden Tag vergebens nach einem Stellplatz, um ihre Ruhezeiten einhalten zu können. Das Start-up-Unternehmen „Park Your Truck“ will das altbekannte Problem lösen, indem es Flächenbesitzer und Berufskraftfahrer auf smarte Weise zusammenbringt.

Unternehmerin Ramona Sabelus engagiert sich mit einem eigenen Verein für Berufskraftfahrer, die unverschuldet in eine schwierige Situation geraten sind: Bei „Trucker in Not“ können sie unbürokratisch finanzielle Hilfe beantragen. Sabelus will den Fahrern damit die Wertschätzung geben, die sie mit ihrer wichtigen und anspruchsvollen Tätigkeit verdienen.

Jörg Schwerdtfeger never imagined that he would become an influencer at the age of 50. But with his voluntary initiative “I am a professional driver and deserve respect”, the experienced haulage expert has hit a nerve. More than 27,000 subscribers and a lively exchange on the Facebook channel of the same name speak for themselves.

The corona pandemic once again shows how important professional drivers are for the supply of society. Torsten Busch is on the road for the Seifert Logistics Group with an articulated truck with a 13.60-metre tautliner trailer in local transport in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. For motionist.com he reports how he experiences his job in 2020.

As a “Christmas Trucker” Stefan Giuliani travels to poor regions of Eastern Europe every year to distribute aid packages to the needy. Using a 40-tonne truck from REICHHART Logistik GmbH, he brings food and hygiene products to people for whom these are the most precious gifts.

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?

Restoring a classic truck to full working order demands patience, knowledge and perseverance. A fascination with the historic vehicles fuels these efforts.