The transport of goods by road invoices in Spain more than 14,000 million euros per year and is facing a serious problem: the lack of generational relief. The companies cannot find truckers and the Spanish Confederation of Goods Transport (CETM) estimates the deficit at 15,000 workers. The problem begins to have such magnitude that the employers are already in talks with the Government to give visas to foreign professionals. The paradox is that, while the national group lacks drivers, in Castellon now there are plenty And all because of the crisis that the tile has been going through for more than a year and the citrus campaign, which has been one of the shortest in history.
Although traditionally the transport companies in the province estimated the lack of labor in the sector at around 500 truckers, today things have changed. “If you do a couple of years There were companies that had trucks stopped due to a lack of workers, now they also have them, but it is due to a lack of demand. The volume of job It has fallen a lot”, describes Carmelo Martínezpresident of the Castellón Business Association for Road Merchandise Transport (ACTM), an organization attached to the national confederation.
The fall in activity, which in the sector is estimated at around 20%, began to be noticed after the summer, although in the first two months of this year the slowdown has been even greater. «In January and February the transport of merchandise has been low, both by the tile and by the shops and citrus cooperatives, since the season of the clemenules this time ended at Christmas. And we are talking about the two large sectors for which we carriers work”, he adds.
The demand for travel is no longer what it was a year ago and, in addition to resorting to layoffs, some companies have ended up disappearing. In fact, and according to data from the Ministry of Transport, the sector has 2,664 merchants, self-employed workers and cooperatives in Castellón (data from the end of February), about twenty less than a year ago. «What we ask is that the aid for ceramics arrive now. The sector does not demand anything that its Italian competitors have not received”, argues the president of ACTM.
Drivers getting older
Drop in demand aside, what is a reality in Castellón transport is that a good part of its workers are over 50 years of age. «Half of the workforce is over 45 years old, which means that in two decades they are going to retire from a complex and hard activity and in which, on top of that, there is hardly any relief». describes Carmelo Martínez, who also calls for measures to facilitate the incorporation of young people.