Girteka Builds Latvia and Romania Operations to Expand Driver Access

Girteka is adding operating bases in Riga, Latvia, and Oradea, Romania, to widen its access to professional drivers and support transport capacity across Europe. The company is setting up local entities that will handle truck registration, driver employment and transport management as each operation grows.

The move gives Girteka more locations from which to recruit and organise its fleet. In Latvia, nearly 100 locally registered trucks are already operating. Romania is at an earlier stage: its team is preparing to receive the first trucks and drivers. Girteka says local administrative teams will develop alongside operational requirements.

For a carrier that depends on its own trucks and drivers, the choice of where to employ staff and base equipment shapes the capacity it can offer customers. Girteka’s focus, CEO Pavel Kveten said, is serving temperature-controlled and high-value cargo with dependable service, consistent capacity and close operational control. He described the new locations as part of adapting that operating model to shifts in labour availability, costs and requirements across Europe.

More locations for driver recruitment

Driver availability is a direct constraint on European road transport. The International Road Transport Union (IRU) estimated that Europe had around 502,000 unfilled truck driver positions in 2025, equal to approximately 13% of the workforce the sector required. The organisation also estimates that about 20% of the current truck driver workforce in Europe will retire within the next five years.

Those figures point to a staffing challenge that can affect how much equipment a carrier can keep in service. A truck adds capacity only when a qualified driver is available to operate it. Recruitment, employment arrangements and support for drivers therefore connect directly to a fleet’s ability to meet customer demand.

Girteka says it delivers around 800,000 full truckloads a year for more than 5,000 customers across Europe. Expanding its local operating footprint is intended to give the company additional ways to attract and employ drivers, then align those teams with fleet and transport management needs. The company has not given a target fleet size or timetable for reaching a particular scale in either Latvia or Romania.

Building on an established regional model

Girteka already runs transport operations from several European locations. In Poland, it manages a fleet of around 3,000 trucks, with local driver recruitment, transport management and operational functions in place. The Latvian and Romanian entities extend that approach by locating fleet and workforce resources in additional markets.

Mindaugas Paulauskas, CEO of Girteka Transport, described the change as a step to support continuity and efficiency. He said driver availability remains a constraint and that the company needs more flexibility to recruit at the scale its fleet requires. In his account, the new bases should add options for employing drivers, organising vehicles and maintaining the capacity customers depend on.

That flexibility will depend on how the local teams and fleets develop in practice. The entities are being incorporated into Girteka’s wider European operation, so their role includes more than registering trucks: they will provide the local structure for employment and transport management. Administrative staffing is expected to grow in line with operational needs.

Recruitment and rollout

Recruitment is under way in Riga for transport operations and management positions. Girteka is seeking experienced staff to establish processes, support fleet growth and build local teams. In Romania, hiring is expected to develop alongside the launch and expansion of the operation.

The company says it will assess whether additional local roles and functions are needed as activity scales in both countries. That leaves the near-term rollout tied to operational growth: Latvia is already running a fleet approaching 100 trucks, while Romania is preparing for its first vehicles and drivers.

For customers, the practical test will be whether these bases help Girteka staff and organise trucks reliably as its operations expand. The company’s stated aim is a durable local setup that supports fleet performance and driver availability, with capacity to serve customers across its European network.

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