Scania calls for more women to join the trucking industry
Scania is celebrating today’s International Women’s Day by calling for more women to join the trucking industry in Sweden.
Female truck drivers are still very much a minority on the roads in Sweden – just one in 50 truck drivers are women. However, interest in the profession is growing.
As a result, Scania is keen to inspire more Swedish women into the profession, and will be hosting another female trucking day in October this year. The 2006 event generated much interest with 50 women selected to come to the Scania Demo Centre in Södertälje. Here aspiring and established women truck drivers learnt about trucks and engines, and the Swedish transport and haulage business, as well as getting behind the wheel of the latest Scania trucks.
Scania is also encouraging existing Swedish female truck drivers to pit their driving skills against men by entering its Young European Truck Driver of the Year 2007 competition (YETD 2007). The competition offers male and female truck drivers aged 35 or below a chance to demonstrate their road safety skills – and win a top of the range Scania truck.
It will give Swedish women truck drivers the opportunity to potentially compete on an international arena against drivers from over 27 countries.
PR manager Bo Jarnsjö at Scania Sweden commented: “As well as attracting more women into the truck driving profession, we would also like to see increasing numbers of skilled male drivers making it a career choice as well.”
While the profession is still male dominated, we believe that women have a great deal to offer, playing a significant role in championing road safety and improving overall driving skills.”
YETD 2007 is all about promoting the status of the truck driving industry and attracting more talented drivers both male and female into the profession, so we look forward to receiving a record number of entries in Sweden and finding a new Swedish champion truck driver.”
“We also look forward to welcoming women keen to discover more about the truck driver profession to our women’s truck driving day taking place in October at Scania in Södertälje.”
Scania has also recently launched a brand new range of clothing and accessories – Scania Truck Gear - aimed at both male and female truck drivers, which will ensure women drivers are both stylish and comfortable when on the road.
For further information, please contact: Bo Jarnsjö, Scania Sverige,
tel +46 70 318 64 18
Scania is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications, and of industrial and marine engines. A growing proportion of the company’s operations is comprised of products and services in the financial and service sectors, assuring Scania customers of cost-effective transport solutions and maximum uptime. Employing 32,800 people, Scania operates in about 100 countries. Research and development activities are concentrated in Sweden, while production plants are located in Europe and South America, with facilities for the global exchange of both components and finished vehicles. In 2006, invoiced sales totalled SEK 70.7 billion and net income amounted to SEK 5.9 billion.
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