From 2 February, all truck drivers must stop at or just after the border to manually indicate in the tachograph that they are crossing a national border. This may lead to chaos at border crossings, unnecessary extra CO2 emissions and higher costs for carriers, warns Transport en Logistiek Nederland (TLN).
The obligation is part of the Mobility Package, a package of European legislation and regulations for freight and passenger transport. From 2 February, the tachograph will also be used to check when a driver is driving abroad. This information is necessary for the new cabotage and secondment scheme. From next month, drivers will be obliged to enter the country code at the border or the first possible stop after the border. This input, together with driving up and down, takes about five minutes.
Chaos
This may lead to chaos and traffic unsafety at the borders, TLN warns. Based on figures from Rijkswaterstaat, TLN estimates that approximately 96.000 trucks cross the Dutch border every day. On the A67 near Venlo alone, this is about 14.000 trucks per day. If they will soon stop en masse at the border or the same resting place or gas station just after the border, the small number of parking spaces will be full in no time.
Road safety
With major risks for road safety. TLN expects that many drivers will use this stop to stop for a little longer, for example to take their mandatory break. Then the few rest areas fill up even faster. If all drivers actually comply with the new rules, they may also stop on an emergency lane, or an entry or exit lane.
Risk of sanctions
If drivers do not comply with the new rules, they can be fined in the Netherlands or other EU Member States and the entrepreneur runs the risk of losing his license. These fines count in the ERRU register, a demerit points register for road freight transport. It is currently completely unclear how strict enforcers will be on drivers who drive past a full parking lot for safety reasons and enter the country code at a later time.
CO2 emissions
In addition to delays at borders, the mandatory stop leads to an enormous amount of extra CO2 emissions. A truck consumes about one liter of diesel to reach a speed of 80 km/h from standstill and thus emits 3.2 kg of CO2. In total, 96.000 trucks would unnecessarily emit 307.000 kilos of extra CO2 every day. The same as the annual emissions of 15 households. TLN emphasizes that this is at odds with the sustainability goals of the transport sector, but also of the European Union itself: by 2030, the EU wants to emit 55% less CO2. Please note: the extra emissions do not only apply at the Dutch borders, but occur at all national borders within the EU. In addition to the enormous impact on the environment, the mandatory stop leads to additional costs for carriers. Especially if they drive abroad a lot. After all, downtime costs transporters money.
Better alternative
To avoid all this, TLN is calling on the European Commission to change the provision so that drivers can enter the country code at the first planned or actual stop. And not directly at or after the border. Moreover, this is clearer than the “first possible stopping point” and is easier to enforce. TLN argued in favor of this before when this scheme was established. TLN also points out that this obligation will end at the end of 2025. Then all trucks that drive internationally will be equipped with a new tachograph: the smart tacho 2. This automatically registers the country in which the driver is driving using GPS. Transport and Logistics Netherlands.
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