In February, subsequent provisions of the so-called mobility package were implemented. What does the solution that our transport industry complains about so much for the companies that use its services?
What is the mobility package? These are European changes in the regulations relating to the driving time and rests of drivers, the method of their delegation, settlement, fair competition and other aspects of the operation of transport companies. Their assumption is to ensure fair access to the market of the European Union countries.
MOBILITY PACKAGE IN PRACTICE
After Poland joined the European Union in 2014, our transport companies quickly felt confident on the European market. It turned out that significantly lower labor costs in our country, combined with a really high quality of service provision, made a lot of Western companies decide to use the services of the Polish transport industry. This translated into its rapid development. According to the report “Vehicles in use” of The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association ACEA from January this year, our country can boast the largest fleet of trucks in the European Union (we are ahead of, among others, Germany and Italy). Thus, transport is currently one of the key branches of our economy (it generates 6.5% of our GDP, and its value exceeds PLN 140 billion).
Many argue that the mobility package is nothing more than an attempt to formulate the “rules of the game” in international transport in such a way as to take away the competitive advantage of Polish companies in the form of lower costs. The fight for this has been going on in France and Germany for several good years. Does this mean that the introduction of new regulations will lead to a sharp increase in transport prices?
EFFECTS OF THE MOBILITY PACKAGE FOR CUSTOMERS
Of course, we cannot answer on behalf of the entire industry, but we want to reassure our customers – you do not have to be afraid of a sharp increase in transport rates. Our activity is strongly related to fuel prices and it is their increases that may be of greater concern than new legal solutions.
Of course, the mobility package imposes additional obligations on us. For example – a driver must stop and enter its symbol upon entering another country. Like a trifle, but requires an additional stop. The regulations on working and rest times for drivers are also slightly different now. For us, in practice, it’s just a modification of procedures that have been around for a long time anyway. Gone are the days when the driver was going spontaneously towards the place of unloading. Today, before he starts, he has the entire route worked out and knows exactly where he should stop to rest. Choosing the right route and resting places protects us against the situation when our employee driving a truck a few kilometers before the destination ends his working time (although such a situation can always happen, of course).
The mobility package is therefore one of the many challenges facing our transport industry today, but nothing that would threaten its existence. It will certainly be felt most by small, family businesses, which will take longer to adapt to the new regulations, but they will also be able to cope with the new regulations. Polish companies offering international transport today have been winning with foreign competition for a long time not only with lower labor costs. We are modern, well-organized and we set trends for the whole of Europe today!
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