Occupation
Long-haul truck driver
Long-haul truck drivers move freight between cities, regions, or countries in tractor-trailers, often spending consecutive nights away from home. Alongside driving, the job involves inspecting the vehicle, securing and documenting the load, and keeping hours-of-service and border paperwork in order. The working day is shaped by delivery windows, weather, and traffic rather than by office hours.
Also known as: Lorry driver · HGV driver · Tractor-trailer driver · Over-the-road driver · Transport truck driver
Occupation content
Part of Supply chain, transport and logistics
What the work involves
- Complete pre-trip and post-trip inspections and record defects before the vehicle moves.
- Confirm a route against height, weight, hazardous-goods, and road restrictions.
- Load, secure, and sheet freight, or verify securement carried out by a shipper.
- Drive scheduled legs while logging hours of service in an electronic logging device.
- Complete bills of lading, customs documents, and delivery confirmations at each stop.
- Report delays, breakdowns, and detention time to a dispatcher and agree a revised plan.
How people commonly enter
- A commercial driver training programme at a carrier school or public college, taken in preparation for a commercial licence assessment.
- An employer finishing or mentored-mileage programme completed after obtaining a commercial licence.
- An apprenticeship or trainee driver scheme where one is offered in the jurisdiction.
- Moving across from local delivery, yard shunting, or vocational driving with the same carrier.
Typical training: Short course or on-the-job training
Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Pathways: Apprenticeship route
Typical work context
Works independently · Involves travel · Shift work · High responsibility · Physically active
Related interests
Realistic (hands-on) · Conventional (organizing)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Map and route reasoning
- Safety judgment
- Attention and concentration
- Reaction-time exercises
- Spatial reasoning
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Supply chain, transport and logistics.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Heavy and Tractor-trailer Truck Drivers · United States
Link checked
- O*NET OnLine — occupation quick search: heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers · International
Link checked
- GOV.UK — Apply for an apprenticeship · United Kingdom
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Supply chain, transport and logistics in Canada, not a figure for Long-haul truck driver. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Supply chain, transport and logistics family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Supply chain, transport and logistics: education pathways
Some roles in Supply chain, transport and logistics may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Supply chain, transport and logistics: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Long-haul truck driver”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)