The Federal Ministry of Transport has prepared a new infrastructure cost report. Accordingly, the transport over the road for the German economy is becoming more expensive.
First, the federal roads are added, then from 2019 the toll rates will be increased. As a result, this will flush up to 2.5 billion more revenue from the road fees into the public funds. This is the result of a new infrastructure costing report (WGK) commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. As a result, toll revenues averaging € 7.2 billion per year will accumulate.
Passing on costs completely
The transport and logistics companies once again face tough negotiations with their clients. The service providers must try to pass on the additional costs as far as possible, ideally to 100 percent.
Accordingly, the associations have responded to the infrastructure cost report. Frank Huster, Managing Director of the German Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association (DSLV), predicts that this doubling cost increase in logistics will not come without impacting freight and consumer prices. “Because the distance-dependent traffic fees used to maintain the road infrastructure actually acts like an excise tax. Only if industry, trade and consumers as direct originators of freight transport make their share, they will be able to maintain their claim to universal availability of all goods at any place and at any time.” The Federal Association of Furniture Freight Forwarding and Logistics (AMÖ), the Federal association of package and express logistics (BIEK), the federation of road haulage logistics and disposal (BGL) and the Federal association of economy, traffic and logistics (BWVL) all emphasize this as well. For once, the associations are in agreement here.
40-ton truck costs over 22,000 euros a year
The BGL has calculated what forwarding agencies will be facing with a 40-ton truck: For a transport over 300 kilometers, of which 150 kilometers are driven on a highway and 100 kilometers on federal roads according to the new calculation the fee to be paid will amount to 46 euros. So far, it is 20 euros. This increases the toll more than twice. Even more impressive is the number, if you extrapolate it to the year. With an annual mileage of this combination of 120,000 kilometers and a division between motorways and federal highways of 80:20 the annual toll will increase from the current 12,960 to 22,440 euros.
Earmarked use
The associations therefore also demand that the additional financial contribution of the economy for the maintenance of roads and bridges be earmarked and used over the year. The Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer does not refuse that: “The billions of additional revenue through the toll flow directly into the expansion of our road network. We will distribute the toll revenues of an average of 7.2 billion euros per year to all regions of Germany.”
If you do not want to pay any more tolls in the future, you have to switch to e-trucks from 2019 onwards. It is planned to exempt them from the road fees.
The infrastructure cost report for download
