Because of the rising oil and diesel prices, the representatives of road haulage are sounding the alarm: "There is a threat of bankruptcies in the German transport logistics industry," says Dirk Engelhardt, spokesman for the board of the Federal Association of Road Haulage, Logistics and Disposal (BGL).

"Then the supply of the population and the economy would be in danger." Because of the sharp rise in diesel prices, many transport companies have reached their financial limits.

Certain transport contracts provide protection against rising diesel prices.

But these usually only took effect after months, according to the association.

Even such contractual clauses offer no protection against the high diesel prices.

Helmut Buender

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Bernd Freytag

Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.

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Timo Kotowski

Editor in Business.

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Tobias Piller

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Some hauliers are trying to meet their contractual obligations when, due to high fuel prices, they should be facing bankruptcy and ceasing operations, is a dramatic description from the BGL.

In Germany there are currently 46,900 road haulage companies with around 400,000 heavy trucks.

7,000 medium-sized companies with an average of 20 trucks per company are organized in the BGL association.

Higher ticket prices

In normal times, fuel accounts for 25 percent of the costs in long-distance transport, but now this proportion has increased dramatically.

To mitigate the effects of the high oil price and the resulting high diesel prices for transport companies, BGL CEO Engelhardt is calling for a reduced mineral oil tax for the industry and thus cheaper "commercial diesel".

The large logistics groups, on the other hand, are reacting without dramatic rhetoric.

They usually agree price adjustment clauses in long-term contracts in order to be able to pass on rising costs to customers.

However, Deutsche Post DHL, for example, does not want to give concrete assessments of how the current situation will affect it.

Among other things, the question arises as to whether and to what extent the shipping of online orders could become more expensive.

Deutsche Lufthansa has already tried to get travelers in the mood for rising ticket prices.

The higher oil price and rising fees at airports and for security checks made this necessary.

It remains uncertain, however, whether an increase to the desired extent will be successful.

As airlines continue to lack business travellers, many airlines are planning more flights to holiday destinations in the Mediterranean region, which should create more competition on the routes there.

Lufthansa CFO Remco Steenbergen was nevertheless confident.

Lufthansa has hedged fuel purchases more strongly through forward transactions - there are hedging contacts for 63 percent of kerosene requirements.

During the pandemic, airlines had scaled back futures, as they had sometimes proved unfavorable in times of low demand for kerosene.

Lufthansa claims to have changed course faster than others, in 2021 the group had only hedged 24 percent of its kerosene requirements.

Road construction is dependent on oil by-product

On the other hand, the question of the supply of Russian oil and the price of oil is plaguing the construction industry, especially road builders.

The binder bitumen is an essential component of asphalt.

It falls off as a by-product, so to speak, in refineries.

According to the German Asphalt Association, the heavy oil from Russia, which is particularly suitable for bitumen production, accounts for almost a third of the deliveries.

"The dependency worries us a lot," says association manager Marco Bokies of the FAZ

So if either Russia or Germany should stop the oil supply, he says it would be difficult to obtain a replacement.

Refineries that are not dependent on Russian oil could not easily increase their capacities, if only because many of them also supply neighboring foreign markets.

The concerns are already reflected in a significant price increase: the price of bitumen has almost doubled since last autumn.

The chemical industry, which is particularly dependent on oil and gas, warns of significant economic consequences if deliveries from Russia fail.

In the words of Wolfgang Große Entrup, general manager of the chemical association VCI, the situation for energy-intensive companies could become "extremely problematic".

the gas prices,