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Thuringian Transport Industry Demands End to Crisis
🇩🇪 Germany /Economy & Trade

Thuringian Transport Industry Demands End to Crisis

From Die Zeit · (18m ago) German Critical tone

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • The Thuringian Association of the Transport Industry is demanding government action to address the crisis in the sector, citing high fuel prices and declining orders.
  • The association calls for tax-free bonuses for employees, the abolition of maximum working hours, and improved parking for trucks.
  • They also advocate for faster approval of longer trucks and greater consideration for taxis in public transport planning.

The Thuringian transport industry is sounding the alarm, urging federal and state governments to take decisive action to avert a crisis. Our association, representing small and medium-sized transport companies, has passed a resolution detailing urgent demands. We are facing unprecedented cost pressures and a significant drop in orders, pushing many businesses to the brink of closure and insolvency.

Small and medium-sized transport companies can no longer withstand the cost pressure and compensate for the declining orders.

— Landesverband Thüringen des VerkehrsgewerbesStating the financial difficulties faced by transport companies.

Our resolution, unanimously adopted and presented to Thuringia's Transport Minister Steffen Schütz, outlines concrete steps. We propose a revised bonus system, allowing for tax- and contribution-free payments of €1,000 or more to employees, a measure that would provide much-needed relief to both companies and workers. Furthermore, we call for the abolition of maximum daily working hours to enhance operational flexibility.

For this reason, we call on the federal government and the state government to take measures that end the crisis and relieve the transport companies, as well as provide long-term planning security.

— Landesverband Thüringen des VerkehrsgewerbesDemanding government intervention to resolve the industry crisis.

Beyond financial and labor adjustments, we emphasize the critical need for improved infrastructure. The state government must prioritize enhancing parking facilities for trucks across all road types and in industrial areas. We argue that revenue from truck tolls and fines for working-time violations should be directly reinvested into this crucial infrastructure.

1,000 EUR or more can be paid out tax- and contribution-free from the employees' wages.

— Landesverband Thüringen des VerkehrsgewerbesProposing a revised bonus system to alleviate financial burdens.

We also advocate for the accelerated approval of longer trucks, which offer up to 25% greater efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. These vehicles should be permitted to transport dangerous goods, further optimizing logistics. For local public transport, we propose a more integrated approach, incorporating taxis to complement or even replace traditional routes, thereby increasing efficiency and service coverage.

These are up to 25 percent more efficient and save CO2.

— Landesverband Thüringen des VerkehrsgewerbesHighlighting the environmental and efficiency benefits of longer trucks.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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