The transport sector in Tarragona is going through a structural crisis due to the lack of drivers that threatens the local supply chain. Thousands of professionals are missing to cover freight and passenger routes, a deficit that has become chronic in recent years.
The administration now promotes massive immigrant regularization processes, but this measure will prove insufficient to alleviate the existing labor shortage in Tarragona's business fabric.
The regularization does not cover the necessary permits
Josep Lluís Aymat, director of the Business Federation of Road Transport of Tarragona (FEAT), warns that the solution must go beyond the simple administrative legalization of people in irregular situations.
"This country needs immigrants and the sector also but the solution must go beyond regularization." - Josep Lluís Aymat, director of FEAT
The current process will only benefit the sector in a minimal part, since the majority of those affected lack the professional driving permits required by law.
Qualified profiles are an infinitesimal minority within the group that is now accessing regularization, which forces us to look for talent in other markets.
Long routes scare away workers
The harshness of the job deters local candidates, who prioritize family reconciliation over higher salaries. Transportation shares this dynamic with hospitality or construction.
Long-distance routes require being away from home for at least three to four days, which causes a significant dissociation from family life.
While short trips allow sleeping at home, long-haul drivers spend entire days on the road with hardly any contact with their immediate surroundings.
"People prefer to have a job with more quality of life even if it means earning less money." - Josep Lluís Aymat, director of FEAT
Aymat demands urgent facilities from the administration to import these fundamental roles, as the regional economy depends entirely on the mobility of goods and tourists.
The food industry and tourism need constant flow, but the absence of flyers puts the operational survival of key companies in the province at risk.
Reality imposes a physical limit on the labor supply, where temporal availability weighs more than economic remuneration in the decision of applicants.