Berlin The transport industry is mobilizing against the federal government’s plans to make road freight transport significantly more expensive. “We expect the government to stick to the coalition agreement and protect the transport industry from double financial burdens,” demanded Frank Huster, Managing Director of the German Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association (DSLV).
Dirk Engelhardt, spokesman for the board of the Federal Association of Road Haulage, Logistics and Disposal, explained: “This is not just about the credibility of politics, but also about securing the competitiveness of German companies.”
The SPD, FDP and Greens want to levy a new CO2 surcharge on the truck toll from December, which will almost double the toll costs per kilometer driven to more than 30 cents.
From January, the CO2 tax on fossil fuels is also set to rise further, which will mean that it will then be around eleven cents per liter for diesel. In the coalition agreement, the parties had promised to introduce the CO2 surcharge on the truck toll, “under the condition that double taxation by the CO2 price is ruled out”.
However, the draft of the new truck toll law does not provide for any compensation. Rather, from December trucks and from July 2024 also small trucks from 3.5 tons will be fully toll-liable. The state wants to take in around 15 billion euros a year, twice as much as before. The transport industry expects an inflation effect of 0.4 percentage points.
Ministry wants to avoid “disproportionate” burden
The Federal Ministry of Transport did not want to comment on the double burden. A spokeswoman explained that it was important “to avoid an overall disproportionate burden of CO2 costs”.
The industry considers it disproportionate to be asked to pay twice – especially since the CO2 price at the pump is set to rise further: to more than 14 cents per liter of diesel in 2025 and to more than 17 cents in 2026. From 2027, certificate trading is to replace the rigid system and make petrol and diesel even more expensive.
Chief Executive Huster demanded that the CO2 price on fuels must be “frozen at the 2022 level”. Board member Engelhardt said: “Only those who fill up in Germany, i.e. mainly German companies, pay the CO2 price.” His association proposes that the surcharge of around eleven cents per liter of diesel be reimbursed to the transport companies from January.
In an alliance of associations, they and five other associations are also calling for tax relief for trucks powered by biofuels. This is the only way for transporters to avoid the impending additional costs with climate-friendly trucks. The legislative plans stipulate that only battery-powered or hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks will be exempt from the truck toll by the end of 2025 – however, there are almost no vehicles on the market.
In view of this, the industry had already suggested introducing the toll only from 2025 and then gradually. Until then, the truck builders want to bring more climate-neutral trucks onto the market.
According to the toll operator Toll Collect, the legal plans mean that 90 percent of all trucks will have to pay double the toll. Only ten percent could apply for a deduction, for which they have to provide evidence of emission data, which is often not even available from the manufacturer. This is what industry insiders report.
>> Read here: The car toll disaster of the CSU costs around 243 million euros
“It is obvious that at this early point in time the CO2-based truck toll is only about state revenue and not about climate protection,” criticized DSLV Managing Director Huster. “The federal government is ripping off road freight traffic properly.”
IW study speaks of “cost shock” for the transport industry
A short study by the Institute of German Economics (IW) speaks of a “cost shock” for the freight forwarders. Due to the “lack of alternatives” there is a “very small” effect on the climate. The only thing left for the forwarders to do is “pass on the costs to the customers”, which will be particularly difficult for small companies. The study with the title: “The truck will soon pay for everyone” is available to the Handelsblatt.
In the future, the truck will finance “about 80 percent of all federal transport investments,” according to a study.
(Photo: imago images/Thomas Eisenhuth)
The IW study also strengthens the criticism of the industry. In the future, the majority of the additional income from the climate toll will flow into the rail network. So far, the rule has been: Street finances street.
In the future, the truck will finance “about 80 percent of all federal transport investments,” according to the study. With the planned toll law, “the impression is created that the federal government was urgently looking for and found a co-financier for the railways,” summarizes IW researcher Thomas Puls.
Puls sees this critically given the condition of the trunk roads and bridges. According to IW, until 2016 the toll revenue only covered 80 percent of the expenditure on the trunk roads. Therefore, too little is invested “to ensure the preservation of the substance. Many of today’s problems with the transport infrastructure have their roots in this period.”
In 2019, the federal government decided to also levy the toll on federal highways and for trucks weighing 7.5 tons or more. The income again corresponded to 96 percent of the expenses.
From 2024, the railways can now look forward to extra billions. According to the IW study, the freight forwarders are “by far the largest financiers of long-distance transport routes. “The CO2 toll is for the railways what the introduction of the sparkling wine tax to finance the navy under Kaiser Wilhelm was for,” criticized Markus Olligschläger, general manager of the Federal Association of Economics, Transport and Logistics.
>> Read here: Lindner saves on the railway network
First of all, Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) will be happy about the first income in December: Since the law has yet to be passed and the money is therefore not planned in the budget for the current year, he can use it for other purposes: to settle the bill from the botched introduction of the car toll. A court of arbitration recently awarded the operating companies damages of almost a quarter of a billion euros.
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