Freighters are looking for a solution to a logistics and energy problem
Freight carriers and truck drivers agree that the coronavirus pandemic has brought about a positive change in image in the short term. Because during the crisis they managed to ensure the transport of consumer goods for the population on a permanent basis.
Truck traffic: “Everyone needs it, nobody wants it”
However, this positive view of truck traffic has already evaporated, says Christian Spendel, President of LKW Friends on the Road: “We are something like electric power. Everyone needs it, but nobody wants to come into contact with it. It would be best and most preferable if the truck drove silently at night, when you can’t hear or see anything, but then it should bring the products you want.”
Expensive truck journeys due to rising fuel prices
In addition to the lack of recognition for the profession, freight forwarders are still struggling with delivery bottlenecks. Max Gruber, the deputy federal division chairman for the transport and traffic division, has many unanswered questions: “We don’t know if a container will even arrive, when can we declare the goods, when can we store them in the warehouse, when can we commission them and deliver.”
Added to this are the sharp rises in fuel prices. This makes truck journeys more expensive and these costs have to be passed on to customers with a time lag, says Max Gruber: “Of course we have to do it, but the problem is that the consumer ultimately pays for it. This will drive inflation even higher. And the situation is actually getting much more difficult and precarious.”
Truck drive with electricity or hydrogen
Above all of these challenges in the industry, the switch to alternative drive technologies such as hydrogen or e-mobility is also hovering.
According to Konstantin Weller, who researches this at the Technical University of Graz, there are still major problems. Because even now it is not possible to cover 100 percent of the electricity demand from renewable energies. “If we continue to think that we can also have mobility based on electricity and no longer on fossil fuels, then we will need a larger amount of energy. Not just the current 100 percent that we have to make CO2-free, but 110 to 120 percent.” In addition, society’s energy requirements would continue to rise, according to Konstantin Weller.
Transport State Council works subsidies
Switching to alternative forms of propulsion will take time. Some entrepreneurs are already skeptical about the future. They worry, for example, that changing the infrastructure could be expensive and time-consuming.
Concrete support packages for transport companies are currently being developed. According to Stefan Schnöll, Salzburg Transport Council (ÖVP), every type of drive should be funded equally: “Technology neutrality is important, so it shouldn’t matter whether it’s electric or hydrogen, both must be funded to the same extent.”
Overall, it seems to be a more complex transformation process for the transport industry to achieve the required climate targets in the foreseeable future.