Andrea García Cano keeps hand sanitizer and fuel receipts in her truck’s glove compartment, with a phone charging cable tucked alongside. At 22, she holds the distinction of being Spain’s youngest female driver of articulated lorries, a fact confirmed by industry records. Known online as Andrea Truckergirl, she manages the demands of long-haul driving with a focus on order and simplicity while directly confronting persistent stereotypes about gender and age in the Spanish transport sector.
Andrea’s path into trucking grew from personal passion, not family tradition. Unlike many colleagues who inherit the profession, her fascination with vehicles began in childhood and developed independently. After earning her car license at 18, she quickly set her sights on heavy vehicles. Encouraged by her partner, who also works in transport, Andrea completed the rigorous training and secured both rigid and articulated truck licenses just after turning 21, a rare achievement in Spain’s logistics world. These qualifications place her within the C and C+E licence categories used for heavy vehicles and truck-and-trailer combinations.
Before taking the wheel of a trailer, Andrea gained hands-on experience as a forklift operator in a distribution center. The role deepened her understanding of the supply chain, but driving was always her ambition. Her early days behind the wheel brought challenging urban routes through central Barcelona, where she navigated dense traffic and unpredictable drivers in a large rigid truck. The work was stressful at first, but her enthusiasm for driving prevailed. She moved through three different companies before settling into her current role.
Today, Andrea’s workday unfolds mostly during daylight hours as she shuttles refrigerated trailers between terminals in Catalonia and a logistics hub in Zaragoza. She values the calm of the open road, where electronic music helps her stay alert and focused. Each journey begins with a meticulous visual inspection of her truck, including checks of the lights and trailer connections. She follows the routine without exception to ensure safety. Route planning must also account for legally regulated driving and rest periods, which can determine where and when a professional driver has to stop.
Andrea’s presence at the helm of a massive vehicle often draws mixed reactions at loading docks and service areas. She still encounters outdated comments questioning her abilities because of her gender, but chooses to focus on support from professionals who welcome the growing number of women in transport and are impressed by her skill and youth. Her story echoes the practical realities faced by others who live and work on the road, such as those featured in reports on van life in Spain, highlighting the challenges and rewards of nontraditional careers.
In the future, Andrea plans to pursue advanced studies in transport and logistics, aiming for management roles that offer steadier hours and a better work-life balance. She hopes to move from the driver’s seat into traffic management or logistics office positions, seeing her time on the road as the foundation for a broader career in the industry.
Spain’s logistics sector remains heavily male-dominated, with women making up a small but slowly growing share of professional drivers. Figures presented by Spain’s Ministry of Transport at the III Congreso de la Mujer en el Transporte put women at about 11% of truck-driving permits issued annually by the Dirección General de Tráfico. That figure measures new permits, not the proportion of women working as professional drivers. A separate estimate reported by El Español puts women at around 2% of professional truck drivers.
A wider occupational analysis cited by Autopos and based on Randstad Research data offers another measure of the sector’s profile: women accounted for 4.8% of professionals in driving and machinery-handling occupations, while 64% of workers in that group were aged 45 or older. These figures use different occupational groups and denominators, but together show the scale of the challenge in attracting more women and younger workers. A January 2024 transport-industry analysis also estimated a shortage of 15,000 to 20,000 truck drivers in Spain and said that more than one in five transport companies struggled to fill vacancies. Andrea’s career reflects both the barriers women encounter and the expanding possibilities in Spanish road freight.
