By Eva Manez

VALENCIA TO PERPIGNAN (Reuters). Begona Urmeneta is a truck driver who has had to endure a lot. However, she says that her work is what makes Spain so special. Europe suffers from a severe shortage of hauliers.

For 26 years, the 59-year old divorced mother of 2 and grandmother of 2 has driven long-distance truckers transporting all things from dangerous substances to fish.

“You have to keep proving yourself repeatedly… My parents would always say to me that Begona was a girl and couldn’t lift a fridge or move the pallets ‘….

Let them tell it if it makes them smile. Urmeneta is from Valencia, eastern Spain.

Only 4% of Spain’s truckers are women, while 20% of bus and taxi drivers are female. A review has been ordered by the government to attract more women into this sector, as well as a younger workforce. This is because it can be very physically challenging and lonely work that takes drivers away from their families for extended periods.

SHORTAGE

Urmeneta is convinced that there will be no lorry drivers in Spain for 10 years.

She said that Spain’s current shortage of truck drivers is not a problem, and she was just the tip of an iceberg.

Urmeneta doesn’t let the long driving hours away from her home deter her. She keeps a sign at her windshield that says “Trucker Woman”: My profession, my passion.

Spain is not the only country experiencing a shortage of hauliers. This was evident by the disruptions to supply chains that occurred earlier in the year when the world economy emerged from the coronavirus epidemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

According to the European Road Hauliers Association, Europe is facing a shortage in truck drivers.

Fenadismer in Spain was the Spanish national truck driver’s association. They called off the planned three-day strike that had been scheduled for the week before Christmas. This happened after Fenadismer demanded that the government remove the drivers from the responsibility of loading and unloading goods.

Juan Jose Gil, Fenadismer’s deputy head, expressed optimism about improving conditions in the sector, citing labour reforms implemented in Spain which empowered unions in negotiations and a European Union directive that seeks to make transport companies more equal across 27 countries.

Urmeneta expressed less confidence, saying that she did not expect young people to choose to work in such hard-working jobs with low pay.

Factory jobs seem more desirable. “People can return home everyday,” she stated.