Today, we're excited to release a new episode of our SCS On The Road series! Join us in Gothenburg, Sweden, as we take a guided tour of World of Volvo, a brand-new automotive museum and experience centre that highlights the legacy of both Volvo Cars and the Volvo Group.


Join Oscar, our Director of Global Partnerships, along with Povel, a guide at World of Volvo, to explore the museum’s spaces and exhibitions. Spanning 236,000 square feet, World of Volvo embraces Scandinavian design, from its use of natural wood to expansive windows that flood the space with daylight, the experience centre is seamlessly integrated with the natural world. The exhibition features iconic vehicles, interactive art installations, and hands-on experiences, including the chance to operate a real electric excavator, test your balance on a moving bus, or dock a boat in virtual reality. There’s something for everyone to discover.


We are incredibly grateful Povel and the team at World of Volvo for showing us around and allowing us to film and share this experience with you, and for their warm hospitality during our visit. We hope you enjoy this episode and appreciate your continued support for this series. If you liked the video, be sure to subscribe, hit the like button, and leave a comment, we’d love to hear your thoughts! We’ll see you soon for the next episode. Until then, keep on truckin'!

As we continue to evolve and expand the world of Euro Truck Simulator 2, we're constantly looking for ways to improve performance, stability, and the overall driving experience. One step we’re taking in this direction is a major change happening under the hood, something that affects how the game loads and handles data in real time. To make sure we get it right, we need your help!


Recently, we have been hard at work implementing a major overhaul in the way our game loads and processes data, a new experimental system we call Asynchronous Loading. This system is designed to improve the loading process by ensuring that the game and loading screens remain uninterrupted while assets are loaded in the background. The primary benefit here is the mitigation of stuttering, resulting in a smoother experience overall.

However, due to the complexity and wide-reaching impact of this system on many parts of the game, we need to proceed with caution and ensure everything works as expected across a broad range of setups. This may in turn cause unexpected behaviour such as frame rate drops, unusual loading sequences, or odd issues when using features like fast travel. That’s why it’s important for us to test this change under as many different conditions as possible, including various hardware configurations.

To achieve that, today, we are launching a brand-new Experimental Beta for Euro Truck Simulator 2, which features this new loading system. We would like to invite you, our #BestCommunityEver, to help us during this testing phase. The more of you that participate, the more information we’re able to gather and work with. Whether you're running on a high-end rig or a more modest configuration, your feedback is incredibly valuable to us, as it helps us ensure this major feature is stable, reliable, and ready for future updates.

As you explore the beta, we ask that you please keep an eye out for anything unusual or unexpected. We are especially looking for reports of strange behaviour that could be linked to the loading of in-game elements like terrain, models, assets, trucks, trailers, cargoes, weights, physics, and even the economy system. Any instability or glitch, however small, might help us identify where improvements are needed.

Warning! We do want to stress, however, that because of the depth of the changes in this beta, it could potentially affect your save files. That’s why we strongly recommend creating a brand-new profile specifically for the Experimental Beta. This allows you to explore and test the new content without putting your existing progress and profiles at risk.

If you wish to participate in this Experimental Beta, you can find this version in the Experimental Beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on Euro Truck Simulator 2 → Properties → Betas tab → Beta Participation drop down menu → experimental_beta. No password is required. Sometimes you will have to restart your Steam client to see the correct branch name there.

If you do experience a bug or another issue, we ask that you please submit your feedback at our official forums, along with details about your hardware setup, and ideally, attach your game.log.txt file located in your ETS2 folder. This really helps us a lot when trying to reproduce and diagnose issues.

While this Experimental Beta is primarily focused on testing Asynchronous Loading, you will notice a few other features that are also included in this build. These additions are still in development for the upcoming 1.55 update, so while they’re there, we kindly ask that you don’t focus your feedback on these features until the Open Beta, which we will announce here on our blog. With that said, we do want to share a little bit about some of the other content and changes that are included in this Experimental Beta.




Those who choose to participate in this Experimental Beta will also have exclusive access to the next chapter of our Driving Academy series: Truck Driving Proficiency. If you've been following our streams and blogs, you’ll know we’ve hinted at this for a while now. This new set of challenges will push your skills behind the wheel to the limit.



We’ve also started rolling out a redesign of the Mail Screen, with a cleaner layout and improved usability, especially for those navigating with a controller.



Lastly, there’s a handy new shortcut on the World Map, pressing the F key will now instantly center the map on your truck’s current position.

We’ll share more about each of these features soon, along with a closer look of other changes during the full 1.55 Open Beta. For now, we’d really appreciate your focus on helping us test and refine the new loading system.

We want to thank you to everyone who chooses to participate in this Experimental Beta and help us shape the future of Euro Truck Simulator 2. Your time, feedback, and dedication mean the world to us, and it’s thanks to your continued support that we can keep pushing the boundaries of what our game can offer. Until next time, keep on truckin’!

Happy Easter to everyone celebrating! This holiday is widely celebrated around the world and is often connected to an Easter egg hunt. Since we wanted to celebrate with you, we prepared a little egg hunt for you as well!


In a traditional Easter egg hunt, which is a popular celebration during Easter, people typically hide eggs for others to find. When it comes to games, Easter eggs can encompass a wide range of elements, from hidden jokes and references to movies, celebrities, memes, and other clever surprises. These are usually hidden so not everyone discovers them too easily and feels rewarded if they stumble upon one of them. Our game is not any different - our map designers also add Easter eggs to our maps both in ETS2 and ATS with various references.

As a small gift to you this Easter, we wanted to spread a little joy by sharing some of the Easter eggs hidden in our games. When you take a look at the photos, you may be able to find a few hints that will help you to find them and, hopefully, inspire you to uncover even more, as there are plenty waiting to be discovered!

Across both ATS and ETS2 maps, our map designers have incorporated a lot of easter eggs with popular movie or TV show references such as this nod to filmmaker David Lynch, or another one depicting a legendary scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.



If you are cruising in ATS, make sure to keep an eye out on clotheslines as there are some small easter eggs hidden there - on the screenshots below, you can see one referencing Superman, and the other the famous NBA player Scottie Pippen.



And then we have plenty of other ones referencing art, literature, other video games, or history - like this old road on Route 66. Some are also purely for fun like this recreation of a famous supercar, or a group selfie from our research trip.




We hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek at hidden easter eggs in our games. Make sure to find not only the ones we showed you, but also the rest of them, and share your photos or videos with us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. We'd also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter to stay informed, even when you're not able to check out the blog or our socials. We'll see you on the egg hunt!

Warning: The Nordic Horizons map expansion contains dangerously beautiful landmarks along the roads! Prolonged staring while driving may result in unintended off-road adventures!

In today's blog, we're taking you on a tour of the statues, sculptures, and other roadside wonders you can spot while cruising through the northernmost part of Europe in Euro Truck Simulator 2! We previously showed you some of our city landmarks and now it's time for more.


A pretty common occurrence in this part of Europe are various sculptures in the middle of roundabouts. That is why our map designers have recreated many of them, and you are sure to see them on your travels. One that is particularly interesting is a stunning sculpture called Lysfontene, or Light Fountain which is located in Norway.




Another piece represents matches, referencing the history of Vaajakoski, a town once home to several sawmills that produced various wood products, including matches.


You may also come across the Statue of the Wild Man (Vildmannen) in the small settlement of Storuman in Sweden. Its red colour symbolizes the unstoppable strength of the people of Lapland, while the golden staff held behind his back represents wealth. The wreaths of leaves symbolize Lapland's untamed nature.


If you are entering the settlement of Gällivare in the north of Sweden, be on the lookout for the town's welcome sign as you can spot a few beautiful moose sculptures around it!


But you will surely encounter many more interesting landmarks, from big to small, and in all shapes and sizes! Be on the lookout when you are hauling cargo in Nordic Horizons to not miss any of them. And let us know in the comments below if you maybe saw any of these landmarks in the real world and recognised them.




If you are excited about the Nordic Horizons DLC, make sure to add it to your Steam Wishlist! Stay tuned for more updates from this map expansion by following us on our [/u]Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. We'd also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter to stay informed, even when you're not able to check out the blog or our socials. Keep on truckin'!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2780810/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Nordic_Horizons/

Today, we're excited to release a new episode in our SCS On The Road series, and this time, we're on home turf! Join us in both Mohelnice in Czechia and Bočovce in Slovakia as we are given the special opportunity to shine a light on the work of the international automotive supplier FORVIA HELLA, one of the world's biggest producers of headlamps and other light-related products and technology.


The team at FORVIA HELLA invited us to have a tour of their facilities and to learn about the process of designing headlamps for various vehicles, including trucks. This was such an interesting insight for us that we knew we had to create an SCS On The Road episode for our community to enjoy and learn about. We thank the team at FORVIA HELLA for their kind hospitality and for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the process of designing light technology products for their clients.


We had the opportunity to speak with multiple members of their team, a few of which are players from our #BestCommunityEver, and we can say with complete confidence that we can never look at a headlamp the same way again, since learning about the amount of technology and work that goes into each product.

Don't leave us in the dark! Let us know if you enjoyed this in-depth episode. If you did like the video, then please consider subscribing, liking, or leaving a reply, as it really helps support our channel. We will see you soon for the next episode, until then, keep on truckin'!

We're excited to share that this April, we will be partnering with our friends at Schwarzmüller to attend Bauma 2025, the World's Leading Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines, Construction Vehicles, and Construction Equipment hosted at the Munich Exhibition Center between April 7th - 13th 2025.


This event is renowned as the largest trade fair in the construction industry, attracting over 3,200 exhibitors from more than 60 countries. In addition to exploring the impressive range of vocational vehicles, advanced machinery, and cutting-edge technology on display, we are thrilled to be teaming up with our friends at Schwarzmüller to bring our simulation title to their booth.

Visitors to the booth will have the opportunity to experience our renowned 4D Motion Simulator, where they can haul Schwarzmüller trailers in Euro Truck Simulator 2! This motion simulator rig always catches the attention of visitors, especially those who may have never had the chance to drive a truck before. We encourage you to come give it a try if you are around!

If you plan to attend, be on the lookout for Nemiro, Oscar, and Beny, as they roam the show floor, check out the exhibits and meet with other partners. Be sure to say hello if you spot them! You may even find yourself featured in an upcoming SCS On The Road episode, in which we plan to film our experience at Bauma 2025 and what we got up to.

We’re also happy to share that some of our other partners, such as Scania Trucks and Schmitz Cargobull, plan to feature or mention Euro Truck Simulator 2 at their booths! We are honored to have our titles used as a way to virtually showcase our partners' products and technology for all visitors to experience.

We look forward to attending Bauma 2025! Furthermore, we’re excited to hopefully meet some of our community members there, catch up with our partners, and perhaps even make some new ones! We can’t wait to share our experience with those who couldn’t attend, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook to stay up to date with the latest news. Until next time, keep on truckin’.

Today, we are excited to release the 1.54 Update for Euro Truck Simulator 2! After the Open Beta, you can now try out all the features that this update has to offer.


Before we take a look at what's new, we would first like to thank everyone who took part in the Open Beta in the past few weeks. Your feedback really helped us fine-tune everything that was added in this version and made it possible to give you a polished set of features in this update. Now, let's take a look at what's in store!

Until now, what seemed like the game combining a trailer with cargo, such as a piece of machinery, was actually a manually created model, with each trailer-cargo pair stored separately on disk. This approach required an enormous number of unique models, making it harder to add new content efficiently and taking up disk space.



In the redefined cargo system, the code automatically merges cargo and trailers based on simplified rules. This means that each cargo will define its own model, loading methodology, and lashing method. This will make the work of our vehicle team much easier as it no longer requires our 3D artists to manually create pre-baked trailer-cargo pairs.



While there may be issues in the first iteration, it's a worthwhile goal to refine the system, as it not only improves efficiency but also saves disk space and memory by eliminating the need to store countless pre-made combinations. This project may also lead to other possibilities for both of our games, especially with dynamic cargo (un)loading and more. You can read about how this project was executed in our recent Under the Hood blog.

The Truck Adjustment Menu has been completely redesigned to provide a more user-friendly experience. Previously, each option for adjusting your driver's FOV, seat, mirrors etc had separate menus with different layouts. Now, they share a cohesive interface, making adjustments much more intuitive and easier. The new design also takes on a similar visual from our previous UI overhaul and is optimized for both a mouse and a controller, ensuring accessibility for all users.


For keyboard and mouse users, adjustments are now more streamlined with the use of the WASD keys for navigation, along with buttons for finer tuning. Meanwhile, controller users will find the new system much smoother, with the left stick controlling adjustments, the right stick handling camera movement for mirror positioning, and the D-pad or shoulder buttons navigating the menu.


The addition of shoulder button support makes menu navigation more fluid for controller players. This update makes adjusting mirrors and seats much easier, particularly for those using controllers, ensuring a more seamless and enjoyable driving experience. Accessing the Truck Adjustment Menu remains the same. You can use the F4 by default, a custom-assigned key of your choice, or through the adviser services menu.

In 1.54, we are adopting the NVIDIA PhysX physics engine as an alternative to the current Bullet physics engine for low-level simulation of physics in the game world that players interact with. This shift allows players to experience more precise collision detection results and more robust behaviour during scenarios involving collisions between vehicles and obstacles or other vehicles. PhysX also offers our teams better debugging tools, which indirectly benefits players by helping resolve bugs more efficiently.

One of the most noticeable improvements brought by PhysX can already be experienced in our recently introduced Driving Academy game mode. For example, collisions with cones and obstacles are now more accurate and objects no longer appear to "levitate" slightly above the ground after interaction, a flaw that occurred with Bullet. While players may not see drastic changes, certain interactions should exhibit slightly improved behaviour.

During the Open Beta, many players expressed concerns about hardware limitations due to recent news that 32-bit version of PhysX would no longer be supported by certain GPUs. However, the PhysX implementation we use runs entirely on the CPU, meaning players can enjoy PhysX without worrying about graphics card compatibility.

With the release of version 1.54, PhysX is now the default physics engine for all gameplay. Players who prefer the previous Bullet physics engine can switch back by using the "-bullet" command line argument in their Steam launch options.

We have implemented both the Volvo FH Series 5 and Volvo FH Series 6, as well as the Iveco S-Way into Driving Academy. These beautiful trucks were added to Euro Truck Simulator 2 in December, and now you can try them out in various challenging scenarios in Driving Academy!



Everyone who has already completed or will complete the entire first module of Driving Academy will receive special rewards to use inside the game on the same profile they completed the academy with - a hanging blue traffic cone cabin accessory and a customizable Driving Academy paint job for your truck. So make sure to complete your scenarios and grab your rewards, there will be more to come!





Gameplay

• Cargo System Redefined
  
• Driving Academy Rewards

Vehicles

• Volvo FH Series 5, Volvo FH Series 6, and Iveco S-Way added to Driving Academy

Visual

• Truck Adjustment Menu Redesign

Other

• PhysX Implementation

We hope that you will enjoy the new features, changes, and more that come with this update! Remember to follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube, and share your pictures or videos from the game. We'd also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter to stay informed, even when you're not able to check out the blog or our socials. Keep on trucking!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/227300/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2/

Not so long ago, we announced our next rework project for Euro Truck Simulator 2, Project Benelux! This will consist of reworking the countries of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg completely from the ground up. Today, we're happy to introduce to you the team behind this Project, and a little bit about themselves.


The team currently consists of eight people, who have been working hard behind the scenes on this task, which is still in its very early stages. If you missed out on the announcement of this project, you can check out the original blogpost here. We figured it would be best to let them introduce themselves in their own words. We hope you enjoy these words for you, our #BestCommunityEver!

Honza - Project Benelux Rework Lead


"After the Switzerland rework, this is my second project as a map lead. Following the Alpine region, I was happy to be chosen for this project because it offers different opportunities and challenges for map designers. I was a bit naive in thinking it would be easier to design, but that turned out not to be the case. The combination of flat areas in the north, limited space, and a complex highway system presents quite a challenge. In my spare time, I still enjoy working on map design while managing the project. This time, I'm reworking the city of Liège and its surrounding areas. I believe our players have a lot to look forward to, as we are striving to capture the complexity of this region as accurately as possible."

Iva


"Hi, my name is Iva. After completing my bachelor's degree in architecture, I decided to change fields. In 2020, I coincidentally discovered a job posting for a map designer position at SCS. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about the gaming industry and was worried about whether I had anything to offer. Over time, I specialized in urban design. Thanks to the knowledge I gained in college, urban design has given me a unique opportunity to authentically represent the character of specific cities, and I hope I'm succeeding. I've created several cities that I'm very proud of, including Graz (my first attempt), the completion of Salzburg, and the design of the entire Rhineland region.

After completing the rework on Germany, I briefly worked on the beauties of Greece before moving to the Benelux project, where I have been given responsibility for two beautiful cities. Each city is completely different, with their own diverse road network and several iconic locations to look forward to. I can't wait to see it all come to life. Keep your fingers crossed!"

Eliska


"Hi! Eliska here. You might remember me from Switzerland's 'Meet the Team' post, and yes, I'm still here! After over a decade working as a camera operator in the film and television industry, I joined SCS Software four years ago. I worked previously on reworking Austria, Germany, and Switzerland before landing in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sadly, there isn’t much space for trucks in the magnificent old town, but we aim to bring you another iconic Amsterdam vista. The city is full of landmarks, and nearby, the port town of IJmuiden has completely won me over. I hope you enjoy embarking on a ferry there as much as I enjoyed building it. See you on the road!"

Daniel


"Having studied IT for four years and always enjoyed building and creating things in various games, working on ETS2 felt like a no-brainer. Since joining SCS, I've spent nearly two years gaining experience, contributing to European rework projects, and building several German cities from scratch.

Beyond the usual mapping work, I'm also responsible for creating custom depots for the Benelux project, bringing a previously ATS-exclusive feature to Europe. Currently, I'm working on the city of Brussels and its surprisingly lush surroundings. I've found the city fascinating and quite different from my previous tasks, making it even more enjoyable to work on."

Kristian


"Three years ago, I joined SCS Software, and since then, I have worked on various map projects. I currently specialize in ports but also contribute to city designs as part of the Benelux rework, which is an incredibly exciting challenge for me. Before this, I worked as a photographer and never imagined I would one day be part of the gaming industry. However, this job has completely captivated me. It's amazing to see the virtual world take shape and come to life through the details we create. I hope players will enjoy the result just as much as I enjoy creating it!"

Jitka


"After working on the landscapes of Switzerland and the challenging task of connecting Albania to Greece, I started helping with the preproduction of the Benelux project. My main task was preparing natural assets and laying out areas around Luxembourg and the Ardennes in Belgium. Nature in the Benelux region is incredibly diverse, from the hilly south to the lowlands in the north. With improved textures and vegetation, players will experience everything from forests, rivers, and lakes to tulip-filled polder fields and narrow streams. Recreating Luxembourg City was another challenge due to its small yet intricate nature. However, I believe we've managed to do it justice, and I look forward to seeing players explore it."

Tereza


"Hello, community! I joined SCS in November 2023. Previously, I was part of the Germany rework team. However, once that project was completed, I was assigned to work on Benelux. My focus has been on the landscapes of the Netherlands, which has given me a great sense of peace and calm. While I'm currently working on the Nordic Horizons DLC, I hope to return and finish what I started. I look forward to you seeing our work in the future, thanks for playing and supporting us!"

Veronika


"Nice to meet you, I'm Veronika. I've been at SCS for a year and four months, and my first project was the rework of the Berlin Ring and Dresden area. After finishing Germany, we eagerly jumped into the Benelux project. As a map designer, I faced the challenge of working with the vast flat landscapes, complete with charming canals, small farms, and stunning sand dunes along the coast. I'm originally a physiotherapist, but my passion for creativity led me here. What I love most about my job is the freedom to fly over the map like a bird, create my own routes, and virtually travel the world every day through my work."

Jiri


"Hey, my name is Jiri, and I currently work as a map designer at SCS Software. In a few months, I’ll be celebrating my first year with this amazing team at a fantastic company. I've met many inspiring colleagues who share my interests, whether in fitness or Warhammer tabletop games. Here, I am fulfilling my childhood dreams, and I can't wait for you to embark on the journeys we're creating in Benelux with passion and dedication."

Radek


"Hey everyone, I’m Radek! Video games have obviously been a big part of my life since I was a kid, but I never really thought I’d be making one myself. After years spent working in a totally different field, I felt it was time for me to rework my own life path, and that led me to SCS Software. The Benelux rework is my first project here in SCS and since I joined the team in autumn 2024, I gained a lot of experience by working on this project with such talented and experienced colleagues.

On top of that, on this project I’m also focusing and specializing on the natural aspect of the map - vegetation. That means creating new vegetation profiles, researching real-world landscapes, and making sure the greenery in the map feels as authentic and immersive as possible. I am really happy for the possibility to use my knowledge and interest in this project's favour. I truly believe players will love what we’re putting together, and I’m beyond excited to be part of such an amazing community."

We hope you have enjoyed meeting the team behind Project Benelux! We look forward to sharing more on this rework in the future. Remember to follow us on our X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube, so you won't miss out on any Euro Truck Simulator 2 news. We'd also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter to stay informed, even when you're not able to check out the blog or our socials. Until next time, keep on truckin'!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/227300/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2/

In today's blog, we're taking you to Finland - often called the Land of a Thousand Lakes, as it has around 187,000 of them! So let us showcase some of the areas we're recreating for the Nordic Horizons DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2.


Finland is a truly beautiful country, with unique and breathtaking landscapes that our map designers are meticulously recreating for ETS2. Did you know that 10% of Finland's landscape is covered by water, while nearly two-thirds is blanketed by forests?




Now let's move on to specific locations. The first one we would like to show you today is Lake Inari (Inarijärvi in Finnish) which is nestled in the Finnish Lapland in the northernmost part of the country. It is the third largest and the second deepest lake in Finland. It features over 3,300 islands and in colder years, it can stay frozen from November to June.



The second location is the Finnish Lakeland, which is Europe's largest lake district and adored by Finns as a wonderful recreational spot that offers so many things to do all year round. This region is so densely packed with lakes that they make up roughly 25% of its total area.



Finnish Lakeland is vast, stretching across the eastern and central parts of the country and covering a significant portion of Finland. It's also home to Lake Saimaa - Finland's largest lake and the third-largest in Europe. As you truck through this scenic region, you'll pass through the cities of Jyväskylä, Kuopio, and Mikkeli, all ready for your cargo deliveries. So don't wait - be sure to add the Nordic Horizons DLC to your Steam wishlist!



Stay tuned for more updates by following us on our [/u]Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. We'd also really appreciate it if you could sign up for our newsletter to stay informed, even when you're not able to check out the blog or our socials. And be safe on the road!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2780810/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Nordic_Horizons/

The transport and logistics industry relies on a strong, skilled workforce, and in the Netherlands, Sectorinstituut Transport en Logistiek (STL) plays a key role in making this possible. Today, we're happy to share with you more detail about the work that goes on at STL, and how Euro Truck Simulator 2 is also utilized within their company as a tool for students and current drivers. Let's dive in!


STL was founded in 2014 through the merger of various organizations with a shared goal: securing the recruitment and long-term employability of skilled professionals in the transport and logistics sector. Established by sectoral employers' organizations and trade unions, STL works to create a balanced labor market and provide a strong foundation for individuals to thrive in the industry. To learn more about their work, we had the pleasure of chatting with Robin.


"My name is Robin Maes, I'm a Communications Strategist for Sectorinstituut Transport en Logistiek. We have multiple strategists at STL, all focusing on different areas of Transport and Logistics. I focus solely on making sure that there are enough new students starting and finishing their education in Transport and Logistics. I work in the marketing department and within a multitude of multidisciplinary project groups, ensuring that our goals are met."

Robin explains that their mission at STL goes beyond simply bringing new talent into the workforce. "Our goal is to ensure a balanced labor market in the transport and logistics sector. We want employees to work safely, healthily, and with pride." STL’s objectives include attracting and training new professionals, supporting career development, improving working conditions, and promoting innovation and sustainability within the industry. However, challenges such as an aging workforce, misconceptions about the sector, and work-life balance concerns remain key issues that STL is determined to address.


Despite these challenges, STL has seen significant success in bringing fresh talent into transport and logistics. "Every year, we take on almost 1,000 new students," Robin shares. "These students will become mostly truck drivers but also forklift drivers and future management." STL's efforts extend beyond direct recruitment, through initiatives like school roadshows which consist of visiting around 150 schools annually, engaging with approximately 10,000 students from ages 12-17 to showcase the diverse career opportunities in the sector.


STL’s support doesn't end at recruitment. The organization plays a crucial role in guiding students and jobseekers in their career journeys. "We have local advisors in schools across the country," Robin says. "They help students explore career paths, choose educational programs, and connect with companies for hands-on learning experiences." For adults looking to switch careers, STL provides job coaching and connections with potential employers, ensuring a smooth transition into the transport industry. Additionally, STL helps subsidize essential training, such as obtaining truck and forklift licences, reducing financial barriers for those eager to enter the field.


For those already working in logistics, STL continues to provide valuable support. "The Stichting Opleidings en Ontwikkelingsfonds Beroepsgoederenvervoer, or SOOB for short, creates the funds we work with and determines the subsidies STL can offer," Robin explains. "Currently, there are multiple ways to benefit from this, like progressing from a forklift driver to a fully licensed CE-truck driver. We also offer other support programmes, such as subsidized (or free) health programs for losing weight or to quit smoking."

The transportation industry still faces some challenges, but it is steadily evolving to address them. The sector has made significant progress over the past 20 years. However, not everyone is aware of these changes, which can affect how people perceive careers in transportation and logistics. As the industry seeks new talent, it is actively adapting to become more attractive to young professionals and secure a strong future workforce.


One innovative way STL engages with aspiring truck drivers is through Euro Truck Simulator 2. " Having our student play Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a big plus" Robin tells us. "First, it allows students to get a fun, safe introduction to truck driving, and it serves as a valuable practice tool during downtime or the holidays." To keep students engaged during formal training, STL in cooperation with us (SCS Software), provides a free copy of the game. This offers a practical way for students to develop an early feel for truck driving. "We have three USPs in most of our communication: get 100% off on your driver’s license, get paid on schooldays (they work four days a week and study one), and get a truck simulator gift. This mix of fun and value works well for us."

The impact of ETS2 goes beyond just entertainment. Robin notes that many students who are serious about pursuing a truck-driving career use the game for both practice and enjoyment. "Our advisors often hear how excited students are to play the game. It helps bridge the gap between registration and the start of their education, giving them a meaningful way to stay engaged."


Since STL primarily focuses on guiding students through their education rather than conducting direct training, ETS2 is not integrated into formal courses. However, students who register with STL receive their Steam code and are free to use the game as they wish. The organization’s role is to connect students with the right schools and companies while providing personalized guidance throughout their two-year education and work program.

For those interested in joining STL and exploring opportunities in transport and logistics, getting in touch is simple. "The best way to start is by emailing http://mailto:info@stlwerkt.nl," Robin says. "We’ll make sure your question reaches the right department."

STL welcomes a broad range of individuals, from students seeking vocational training to professionals looking to upskill. Employers searching for workforce development support can also benefit from STL’s resources. For more information, you can visit their website at https://www.stl.nl/.


With a strong commitment to fostering new talent and supporting industry professionals, STL continues to play a crucial role in shaping the future of transport and logistics. Whether through hands-on training, career guidance, or even a virtual introduction to trucking via ETS2, their mission remains clear: to ensure a thriving, skilled workforce for years to come.

A huge thank you goes out to Robin Maes and the team at STL for taking the time to speak with us and share more about Sectorinstituut Transport en Logistiek. We hope you enjoyed learning about their mission and encourage you to visit their website to find out more.

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