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How to start working in TSL industry? Transport monitoring as the first step in logistics.

“This job taught me patience.”

Transport monitoring is one of the best places to start a career in the TSL industry. It gives you visibility into the entire operational process, time pressure, and real decision-making. Euro24 employs over a dozen people in this department, working 24/7 in a three-shift system for 8,760 hours a year. If you are considering your first job in TSL, transport monitoring is one of the best ways to see the industry from the inside. That is exactly where Lidiia started, joining Euro24’s Control Tower while still studying logistics. Today, she says openly that this job taught her not only organization and how to work under time pressure, but above all, patience.

Conversations with the monitoring team reveal a very similar picture of this role. Magda points to multitasking and the constant need to switch between tasks, Damian highlights the dynamic environment and operational pace, while Oskar emphasizes responsibility and rapid response to crisis situations. There is one common denominator: entering the TSL industry quickly teaches you how to work under time pressure, communicate effectively with people, and make decisions in situations that can change from one minute to the next. At Euro24, all of this takes place within the Control Tower, a 24/7 transport monitoring department operating 365 days a year.

Transport Monitoring

Transport monitoring at Euro24 is an advanced logistics service that provides full control over the execution of international transport operations. Thanks to a dedicated Control Tower department available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, clients receive real-time updates on the status of their cargo at every stage of transportation. The service includes verification of transport documentation, vehicle location monitoring, and immediate response in the event of unforeseen situations such as breakdowns or delays.

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The first days in transport quickly put theory to the test

He is currently the Manager of a 10-person monitoring team and is responsible for organizing the work of a department operating 24/7. Lidiia, on the other hand, joined the company while still pursuing her engineering degree and combined work with classes and exams. This is an important message for anyone considering entering the logistics industry: TSL is not a closed environment reserved for “industry insiders.” It is demanding, but not inaccessible. A good start often begins with a position that allows you to see the entire transport process, and transport monitoring does this exceptionally well.

Transport monitoring shows the industry from the inside

For someone outside the industry, transport monitoring may sound like simply tracking points on a map. In reality, it involves much more. At Euro24, the monitoring department, also referred to as the Control Tower, is responsible for the flow of information between the freight forwarder, driver, carrier, and client. This is where loading and unloading statuses, drivers’ arrival times, delays, stops, and all situations that may affect delivery punctuality are monitored. The Control Tower also responds to breakdowns, documentation issues, loss of contact with drivers, and changes that arise during transport execution itself. The team is additionally responsible for verifying transport documentation, checking cargo compliance against agreed arrangements, communicating with warehouses, organizing ferry crossings and customs clearance, as well as providing clients with continuous transport status updates.

In practice, monitoring operates as a transport operations center that supervises thousands of processes happening simultaneously, 24 hours a day. The team handles more than 50,000 transport checkpoints annually. This means hundreds of phone calls, messages, status updates, and decisions made in real time every single day. In this model, the monitoring department takes over the shipment once the freight forwarder’s work is completed and continues managing it operationally, including outside standard working hours.

In many companies, the “360 freight forwarder” model is used, where one person handles the entire process from start to finish. At Euro24, however, monitoring operates as a separate department. For someone starting their career, this is a major advantage, because it allows them to understand how transport operations work in practice much faster, without having to manage every aspect of the process from day one.

This picture becomes even more concrete when looking at the numbers. Operating in a shift system, the monitoring department works around the clock and, according to Damian, the Monitoring Department Manager, an average of three people work per shift, while two people handle the night shift. In one of his calculations, this amounted to around 60 route checkpoints per person. Over the course of a year, the monitoring department handled 48,096 loading and unloading operations, averaging approximately 132 operations per day. This clearly shows that it is a role in which prioritization and rapid decision-making often determine whether the team is able to react in time.

Theory helps, but everyday operations teach you faster

Conversations with employees reveal one common pattern: studies provide the foundation, but it is everyday work that truly teaches you how transport operations function in reality. Lidiia openly says that university was dominated by theory, while the real intensive learning began only after joining the company. Oskar, who did not graduate from an industry-related field, had to learn terminology and operational processes directly on the job. Magda, on the other hand, emphasizes that even with a logistics-related education, real-life operations quickly verify everything in practice.

In the TSL industry, it quickly becomes clear that knowledge of procedures alone is not enough. A large part of the job is based on communication. You need to know when to send a message, when to make a call, when to calm a conversation down, and when to set clear boundaries. Oskar points out that in urgent situations, it is better to call than to text. Magda openly says that communication can be even more important than technical skills themselves. Lidiia, in turn, emphasizes that the quality of communication has a huge impact, especially when the client is waiting for an update and the carrier remains silent.

This is exactly where one of the most important entry-level skills comes into play: staying calm under pressure. Oskar talks about not getting drawn into unnecessary conflict. Magda mentions that after a difficult conversation, sometimes you simply need to “take a deep breath.” Lidiia describes a very similar approach: do not raise your voice, but maintain control over both the conversation and yourself. It sounds simple, but in practice, it is one of the most valuable skills that transport monitoring develops.

Onboarding, mistakes, and shift work

The most difficult stage is usually not the recruitment process itself, but the first few weeks afterward. Oskar recalls that during the initial period, he felt more like someone observing and repeating tasks than an independent employee. Magda talks about a “waterfall of information” that at first seems impossible for one person to absorb. Damian describes a very similar reality: multiple topics happening at the same time, a fast operational pace, and the awareness that even a simple mistake can generate a serious operational issue.

This is not just theory. Damian recalls a mistake from the beginning of his career: due to incorrectly communicating the unloading sequence, a driver went to the wrong warehouse in France, and the client was extremely upset. The situation was resolved thanks to an internal trainer, a person responsible for onboarding new employees and supporting them during their first weeks of operational work. This example clearly shows why proper onboarding and double-checking the work of new team members are so important. At Euro24, new employees are assigned internal trainers, can ask questions on an ongoing basis, and more critical topics as well as client communication are additionally verified before being forwarded further. Lidiia recalls that although she integrated with the team relatively quickly, it took her around four to five months to fully settle into the role and move confidently through all operational processes.

Shift work adds another layer of complexity to this environment. The team does not operate in a model of “always the same people, always the same hours.” Employees rotate between shifts, and cooperation is based on continuous handovers of ongoing tasks and issues. Lidiia even describes a specific shift handover procedure: providing the shipment number, a short description, presenting the case in the system, and verbally clarifying the details. This is exactly the part of the job that remains invisible from the outside, yet without it the entire operation would not function properly.

For a candidate, this is an important thing to understand: starting in the TSL industry is not about everything suddenly “clicking” from day one. It is more about gradually stopping yourself from drowning in information, beginning to recognize patterns, and after a few months handling tasks that previously seemed impossible to manage. Magda described it in the simplest way: at the beginning, the waterfall of information feels overwhelming, but over time it all starts to make sense.

Transport monitoring provides a solid foundation for further growth in the industry

Many people treat transport monitoring not as a final destination, but as a very strong starting stage in their career. And that makes sense. In this department, you see the entire process: loading, unloading, communication with drivers, breakdowns, customs clearance, shift handovers, and reacting under time pressure. Anyone who goes through this stage gains a solid foundation for further development in freight forwarding or other operational roles.

Lidiia openly says that she would like to move into freight forwarding because she feels she has already reached a certain ceiling of knowledge within monitoring. Magda sees monitoring in a similar way: as a very strong starting point that teaches stress resistance and the ability to manage multiple threads simultaneously. Oskar, in turn, describes how, with experience, his responsibility for decision-making during shifts and supporting less experienced team members continues to grow. It is a natural process of professional development within the industry.

This is where Damian’s approach to mistakes becomes especially valuable. From his perspective, it is better for a new employee to make a mistake under the supervision of the team and learn from it, than to be afraid of making decisions at all. It is an important lesson for candidates who see the TSL industry as a field “for people who never make mistakes.” It is not. It is a field for people who are able to draw conclusions, ask questions, verify information, and keep operating under pressure.

And what does this job teach you the most on a human level? In Lidiia’s case, the answer is very specific.

This sentence perfectly summarizes why transport monitoring is such a strong starting point in the TSL industry. Not because it is easy, but precisely because it forces you to mature professionally much faster.

A clear career development path in Transport Monitoring

At Euro24, a Competency Model operates within the monitoring department, a structured system defining the competencies, skills, and development areas required in everyday operational work. It is not just a list of “soft skills”, but a real tool that organizes the development of the entire department and establishes a clear career path for employees, from their very first weeks of onboarding all the way to more specialized or managerial positions. Thanks to this approach, new employees know from the very beginning which competencies are crucial in daily operations, what they should focus on developing, and what will be expected of them at the next stages of their career growth.

The Competency Model also helps structure the onboarding process for new employees. Trainers and managers have clearly defined areas that should be developed during the first months of work, including communication, teamwork, work organization, the ability to react under time pressure, operational knowledge, and decision making. As a result, onboarding is not based solely on “observing more experienced colleagues”, but follows a specific structure with clearly defined development goals.

The model is also used for training planning, performance evaluations, promotions, and building career paths within the company. It helps define which competencies are required to move into more responsible positions, such as Senior Specialist or Team Manager. From the employee’s perspective, this provides greater transparency and a clearer sense of career direction, while from the organization’s perspective, it helps build a consistent operational standard across the entire monitoring department.

What does starting at Euro24 look like?

From a candidate’s perspective, Euro24 offers concrete opportunities, not just general slogans. The company has been operating since 2007. In 2025, it completed 31,752 road transport orders across 43 countries. It operates 8 locations in 4 countries and, since 2026, has been developing its sea freight and rail freight divisions. In practice, this means an environment where a person starting their career is exposed to different types of transport, different levels of operational pressure, and real logistics operations, not just “dry run” exercises.

If we add the local context to all of this, the picture becomes even more tangible. Euro24 recruits office employees in Rzeszow, but not only there. On the company website, there are dedicated sections focused on careers, transport monitoring, as well as industry news and articles. These three areas are the most natural continuation of this article for someone reading it not out of curiosity, but because they are genuinely considering entering the TSL industry.

If this article made you want to explore the next step, take a look at the Euro24 Careers section, the transport monitoring overview, and the company’s articles about the industry and operational work. It is the best way to compare your expectations about the TSL industry with what the job really looks like in practice.

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