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It's here: the increase in the German truck toll will come into effect on December 1, 2023. From this point on, the CO2 emissions of vehicles will play a central role in the toll calculation. What does this mean in detail for the logistics industry and for NOSTA Group? Christian Hammacher, COO Road at NOSTA Logistics GmbH, provides answers to the most important questions shortly before the introduction.
Stories: Christian, the political debate in Germany on increasing the toll was long and sometimes heated. Why are we disappointed with the outcome?
Christian Hammacher: First of all, we are of course disappointed that the criticism and change requests from our industry were not taken into account. Specifically, we pointed out the negative overall economic effects and the inflationary impact of a toll increase. Ultimately, this means an additional burden on the German economy and all consumers of around 7 billion euros per year.
Stories: What would have been ideal from our perspective?
Hammacher: On the one hand, we would have liked to see the introduction postponed so as not to hit the economy and consumers in an already tense situation. In addition, a gradual increase over time and therefore a smaller one-off increase would have been preferable.
It should also have been taken into account that there are currently very few vehicles with low-carbon or carbon-neutral drive systems available on the market. It is in fact not yet possible to switch to alternatives. Especially as these alternatives are not yet sufficiently subsidized to be commercially competitive.
Stories: What effects will the toll increase have on NOSTA Group?
Hammacher: We and our partners will see massive cost increases from December 1, which we will have to pass on to our clients. For domestic German freight transport, we are talking about cost increases of around eight to nine percent due to the increased toll alone.
Additional costs due to rising wages, investments in IT and increased energy prices have not even been taken into account for this increase. Furthermore, there will be a significant additional administrative work for all parties involved, as all price agreements and offers will have to be adjusted in the current year.
Stories: What effects will the increase have on the German logistics sector as a whole?
Hammacher: The logistics sector is under pressure due to the overall economic situation. The number of insolvencies and closures among small and medium-sized carriers has already increased in recent months. It can be assumed that this trend will intensify.
In the mid-term, the already prevailing shortage of transport capacity will worsen and further drive up transport prices. We will clearly feel this by the time the economic recovery sets in and demand increases again.
Stories: How drastic do we think the impact of the toll will be on consumer prices?
Hammacher: That of course depends heavily on the transportation costs of the individual product groups. Basically, we assume that the effect for a four-person household in Germany will amount to 300 to 400 euros per year.
Stories: What measures are we taking to limit the negative financial effect of the toll?
Hammacher: We are of course constantly working on optimizing our transport services, which is always about quality and efficiency. We have currently invested in 34 new tractor units and, in addition to contributing to greater road safety through the latest safety technology, we can reduce the diesel consumption of our vehicles by several percentage points. However, it must be clear that these measures only help to mitigate the overall cost increases.
Stories: How do we view the topic of electric mobility in light of the increase?
Hammacher: We have already been able to gain experience with alternative drive systems and are in talks with clients about the specific routes on which we can switch from conventional drive systems to electric trucks. We are close to finalizing some of the conversions. However, we have to take into account both operational restrictions and cost increases.
In addition to the previously mentioned insufficient funding and the lack of available vehicles, we must of course take into account the fact that the charging infrastructure in particular still needs to be installed in many places.
Stories: Christian, thank you very much for talking to us.
