Spain Seeks 26,000 Moroccan Drivers to Address Critical Shortage

The land transport sector in Spain currently needs 26,000 drivers, but is having serious difficulties finding local labor. A situation that is forcing truck and bus companies to turn to South American countries and Morocco, reports ABC.

Spanish companies prefer to recruit Moroccan drivers because of their experience, even though they deplore the lack of mastery of Spanish and the Spanish Highway Code. Since 2004, Spain and Morocco have signed a mutual recognition agreement for B licenses, but for other C and D licenses (buses and trucks), Moroccan drivers were required to take theoretical and practical tests in Spain.

In 2019, the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) removed this requirement for Moroccan drivers who, like nationals of Switzerland, Andorra, South Korea, Japan, Monaco, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, simply obtain a professional competence certificate (CAP) of a duration of 35 hours if their license dates from before 2019, or 140 hours if the license was obtained after that year.

Spanish companies like Alsa already have training centers in Morocco. The Spanish bus leader has 6,000 employees and transports more than 350 million passengers per year. Currently, Asla only trains Moroccan drivers, but they could start training Spanish drivers to make up for local staff strikes.