Following the lifting of the restrictions on heavy goods vehicle operations on Sundays and public holidays, which had originally been implemented due to low water levels, the Federal Association of Freight Transport and Logistics (BGL) reported only a modest increase in traffic during the past two weekends.
Dirk Engelhardt, spokesperson for the association, told the “Rheinische Post” that initial industry reports present a mixed picture. While the new allowances are certainly being utilized, their overall scope appears to be limited.
For instance, North Rhine-Westphalia registered a slightly higher volume of truck traffic, yet this did not lead to larger additional traffic jams. Conversely, Bayern recorded barely any increase in HGV activity last weekend. According to Engelhardt, the current evidence does not support the claim of a significantly higher, broad-scale increase in truck volume.
The ability to travel is not being adopted uniformly by all logistics operators. For many companies and drivers, the idea of taking on additional Sunday transports is met with considerable skepticism. Furthermore, the spokesperson noted that because the exemption is temporary, it neither necessitates the creation of additional drivers nor introduces supplementary legal driving hours.
