Improve road haulage rules for industry, drivers and the environment, says EC
15 Apr 2014 02:47 PM
The Vice-President of the European Commission
Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, has called for simplification and
clarification of EU rules on road haulage. Mr Kallas' remarks follow
the publication of a report on integrating the internal market for road
transport.
On
any given day, almost a quarter of all trucks on Europe's roads are empty,
either on their way home or between loads. Opening national road transport
markets to more competition would help reduce empty runs and increase
efficiency in the sector, according to the report.
Vice-President Kallas commented: "The current rules
are wasteful for European companies, impact on all road users and are bad for
the environment. We need clear regulations for the industry and at the same
time we need good working conditions for the drivers. I hope the next
Commission will continue down this road."
The
main findings of the report are:
-
The
enforcement authorities of Member States must step up their efforts in
enforcing existing legislation more effectively and
consistently.
-
The
Commission and the EU can help by clarifying rules that are understood,
interpreted and implemented differently in different Member
States.
-
Social rules must be better applied in road transport if
the sector is to attract new drivers, and be able to handle the expected future
demand for freight transport.
-
The
EU has an opportunity to improve the efficiency of its economy and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
Facts and Figures:
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Road transport moves almost three quarters (72%) of
goods in inland transport in the EU, with an annual turnover of €300
billion and accounts for some 2% of the EU's GDP.
-
Land transport, of which road transport is part, is the
only mode of transport in which labour productivity has dropped since 2001
(-0.2%).
-
National transport accounts for 67% of road transport in
the EU. However, access by foreign hauliers to national markets remains very
limited.
-
Heavy goods vehicles often run empty: 20% of all trucks
in the EU run empty. In national transport this rate rises to
25%.
-
There are about 600,000 companies, a very large share of
them SMEs, in the road transport sector, employing close to 3 million
people.
-
Road transport faces driver shortages in the near
future. Drivers are an ageing population and road transport is not considered
an attractive profession. Working conditions are perceived to be difficult, and
Member States do not implement social provisions consistently.
-
According to a recent study by the European Parliament1, the cost of the remaining
restrictions to cabotage2 is around €50 million per
year.
-
Removing the restrictions to cabotage would help to
reduce empty running by making it easier for hauliers to combine loads and
utilise return trips.
-
Removing the restrictions would also allow the
optimisation of fleet management, thereby increasing the overall logistics
efficiency of the EU economy. This would help to keep the EU attractive as a
location for manufacturing and trade.
Next steps
The
report will be forwarded to the European Parliament and Council for further
discussion.
More information:
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/haulage/index_en.htm<
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MEMO/14/286
Follow Vice-President Kallas on Twitter
Contacts :
Helen
Kearns (+32 2 298 76 38)
Dale Kidd (+32
2 295 74 61)
For
the public: Europe Direct by
phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by email
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