Kamps Transport on the driver shortage

28 April 2025

This month, the International road transport organisation IRU published the latest figures on the global driver shortage. There are 3.6 million job vacancies worldwide. The Netherlands alone is 6800 drivers short. Sooner or later, this will also have repercussions for the rest of the chain, including your onward transport. We asked Bob Kamps, MD of Kamps Transport B.V., about his experiences and how he deals with it.

Tentatively positive noises for Dutch market

The annual report from industry organisation IRU reveals that the global shortage of truck drivers is around 3.6 million. To ascertain this, they gathered information and figures from more than 5000 road hauliers based in 36 different countries. The ageing population among drivers continues to rise; the influx of young people has been on the decline for years.

Compared to other European countries, the Dutch market is not doing too badly. Our country has a relatively large number of young drivers and career changers, and an increasing number of women behind the wheel. Nevertheless, we must not make light of the approximately 6800 unfilled vacancies in the Dutch labour market. We asked one of our regular partners for clarification to highlight the real-life situation.

A transporter’s experience

Bob Kamps is Managing Director of Kamps Transport B.V., based in Bleiswijk, Zuid-Holland, a stone’s throw from Rotterdam. Ritra Cargo has worked with this road haulier for a long time. It is an all-round transport company founded in 1957, now with nearly 100 employees.

Bob is a proud, committed entrepreneur who has worked in the family business for many years. He has been running the business with his sister Alda for some years now. It goes without saying that he has seen the industry change over time. With current market trends such as containerisation and congestion, the romance of sitting in the cab for days on end is no more. After all, times change and transport is growing with the times.

Bob: “Being a driver used to be an accessible job, anyone who had completed their military conscription left with a heavy goods vehicle licence and as such, often moved on to transport companies.

There’s a lot more involved nowadays. You have to deal with time slots, administration, compulsory rest periods, lots of waiting around. The demands third parties place on road hauliers – which indirectly become a driver’s tasks – mean this is no longer for everyone.”

That is why Bob is first to admit he understands why it is difficult to find new drivers in the current labour market.

“You become a driver because you want to drive, not to be busy with other matters almost half the time. We have participated in the World Port Days for years, and you can see interest is waning there too. Logistics, and the driving profession in particular, is known for its harsh work mentality with long hours. Of course, hard work is still required, but there have certainly been changes in the last few years.”

Take good care of your employees

As you would expect, we asked Bob about his experiences of driver shortages. He proudly points out that, fortunately, this is not a big issue at Kamps Transport. “But we certainly didn’t get there without investing in staff,” Bob says.

“Looking after your staff goes beyond just giving them a nice truck. They’ll get used to the nice truck after a few weeks. Investing is engaging in their thought processes. I once had a conversation about this with Ad Schoenmakers, your former director. ‘Be good to them, and they’ll stay’, he said. And that’s how we do things too.”

“As well as drivers who’ve been with us for 30 years, we also have several young people and someone who wanted a career change. We pair them with an experienced colleague, so they can work together. We also employ a number of drivers who want to work less than 5 days. You have to accommodate that, by creating job-shares, for example.”

“We just continue the dialogue with everyone as best we can; ‘What do you enjoy?’ What are your capabilities?’ In my opinion, keeping the conversation going with each other fosters happy employees and a healthy company. This is true for any industry.”

Our thanks to Bob Kamps for sharing his sincere story and enlightening insights!

Picture by Jan de Graaf