“Odd journeys” through Germany: criticism of Sunday driving bans for trucks

display

The supply of goods by road in Germany is still largely smooth.

But more and more regulations as a result of the corona pandemic are making their task difficult for transport companies.

In order to avoid supply bottlenecks in the upcoming winter, the adjustment of numerous provisions is now being reminded.

The criticism primarily concerns the Sunday driving ban for trucks and the quarantine rules for truckers.

The head of the influential German Transport Forum, Raimund Klinkner, expresses himself for the first time with concrete demands on politics.

"We are experiencing the world's largest pandemic to date, and supplies in the country are guaranteed," said Klinkner, chairman of the Presidium of the German Transport Forum, in an interview with WELT.

In his opinion, however, there are currently "a number of not absolutely necessary, but extremely major challenges on the part of politics at transport companies."

Wanderings through the countries

display

For the company, effort and price are no longer in a healthy relationship to the work to be done, said Klinkner.

"The transport companies simply want to do their jobs, and as far as possible to cover their costs."

Klinkner criticizes that important rules, for example for long-distance truck traffic, are not uniform across the borders of the federal states.

"For example, a truck tour from the Rostock Baltic Sea port to the Duisburg inland port is an odyssey through several federal states with different regulations."

Truckers in Rostock are allowed to drive off on a Sunday because the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has suspended the Sunday driving ban in what is now the second lockdown.

This is also the case in Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the truck is allowed to drive into Europe's largest inland port and deliver goods.

Only on the way in between, through the federal state of Lower Saxony, this does not work because the state government there has not issued a corresponding ordinance.

There it remains for the time being with the driving ban on Sunday.

display

"It would make a lot of sense to temporarily lift the Sunday driving ban throughout Germany," said Klinkner.

The Transport Forum is committed to this and is in talks with the federal states.

"This is just a matter of resolution that can be done in two or three days, if you want to."

Above all, however, the Transport Forum criticizes the great differences in quarantine regulations between the federal states.

Truck tours that lead or have led through risk areas are affected.

The quarantine trap lurks here

"In general, the following should apply: test before quarantine," said Klinkner.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a truck driver can be freed from quarantine within 48 hours through two successful tests.

It is currently not mandatory in Saxony.

In Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, even two negative corona tests only allow work to be resumed after five days.

"All of this," says Klinkner, "will at some point no longer be manageable for haulage companies."

display

In Bavaria there is a 24-hour rule for the transport industry.

This means that a truck entering a risk area must have driven out of the state again after this time.

Otherwise the driver is threatened with quarantine.

Other countries set significantly longer deadlines of up to three days - for example Baden-Württemberg.

"The disharmony between individual federal states in terms of quarantine rules means an extremely high level of effort for companies," criticizes Klinkner.

It gets even more difficult when looking abroad.

Transport companies are allowed to have their drivers drive to some neighboring countries for up to 72 hours without having to go into quarantine after returning from a corona area.

"Anyone who is traveling by truck from central Germany to southern France, for example, will not be able to complete the tour during this time," said Klinkner.

Test centers at the truck stops

The lobbyist calls for a uniform “hygiene regime”.

“Uniform standards must be set, if possible at the level of the European Union,” says Klinkner.

Isolation measures should be clearly defined for the truck drivers.

Institutions such as the TÜV could test and certify the companies accordingly.

“We have to create new facilities.

Mobile corona test centers can be set up at truck stops or at large transshipment points, ”says Klinkner.

There are around 30 important transport routes in Europe.

With this rather manageable number, such concepts can be implemented quickly.

The applicable quarantine rules are also not helpful for inland shipping.

After all, cargo ships in ports like Rotterdam or Antwerp often have to wait several days for clearance.

But then the 72-hour period that protects you from taking a break due to Corona has usually expired.

If nothing changes, medium-sized transport companies in particular could find themselves in an emergency.

"The situation can quickly become borderline for some businesses," said Klinkner.

From the perspective of the Verkehrsforum, there are already indications of the increasing threat.

“The shortage of margins in combination with the current high level of effort for day-to-day business will lead to bankruptcies,” said Klinkner.

The trend can be read from this number: From January 2019 to the end of October 2020, according to the Verkehrsforum, 735 companies from the freight transport sector filed for insolvency.

This corresponds to a rate of 1.4 percent and is more than twice as high as the economy as a whole.

But the transport sector is also facing challenges in the period after the corona pandemic.

"I hope that after the corona pandemic, the budgets for the traffic turnaround are still in place," said Klinkner.

After all, the transport must do its part to reduce CO2 emissions - according to the current decision of the politicians by 42 percent by the year 2030.