Girteka expands to Romania and Latvia amid driver shortage

Amid a persistent shortage of professional drivers across Europe, Lithuanian road transport giant Girteka is expanding its operations into Romania and Latvia. The company announced on August 26 that it is establishing local entities in Oradea, Romania, and Riga, Latvia, to manage a portion of its transport activities.

This strategic shift is designed to adapt Girteka's European operational model to changing labor market conditions. The new branches will handle local fleet registration, driver recruitment, and transport management, supported by expanding local administrative teams. In Latvia, Girteka is nearing 100 locally registered trucks, while in Romania, preparations are underway to welcome the first vehicles and drivers.

“

Our goal is to be the best logistics partner for temperature-controlled and high-value cargo. Clients in these segments expect reliability, constant capacity availability, and a high level of operational control. In the face of changes concerning employee availability, legal regulations, and costs across Europe, we must ensure our operational model continues to allow us to meet these commitments and deliver services on a large scale.

Pavel Kveten, CEO of Girteka Logistics, stated that the company aims to be the premier logistics partner for temperature-controlled and high-value cargo. He emphasized that clients in these segments demand reliability, consistent capacity, and high operational control. "In the face of changes concerning employee availability, legal regulations, and costs across Europe, we must ensure our operational model continues to allow us to meet these commitments and deliver services on a large scale," Kveten explained.

Girteka handles approximately 800,000 full-load transports annually for over 5,000 clients across Europe. The ability to attract, employ, and support a stable driver workforce is therefore crucial to its business model. By diversifying its fleet and personnel locations, Girteka seeks greater flexibility in resource provision for dependable European client service. The company already operates in numerous European locations, managing around 3,000 trucks in Poland alone, with local support for recruitment, transport management, and operations.

“

This is a necessary step to ensure the continuity and efficiency of our transport operations. The availability of qualified drivers remains a key challenge, so we need greater flexibility in the recruitment process on a scale that matches our fleet size.