The Federal Association of Goods Transport and Logistics (BGL) views the discussions initiated by Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) regarding the lifting of the truck driving ban on Sundays and holidays due to the low water crisis with skepticism.
According to Dirk Engelhardt, the association’s spokesman, told to the “Rheinische Post,” in such a scenario, drivers would instead have to leave their trucks idle on other days to comply with the strictly regulated driving and rest period ordinance, which imposes high fines. It was suggested that perhaps only particularly critical transports could be prioritized. However, the mandated driving and rest periods would still need to be adhered to even if the ban were lifted. Furthermore, Engelhardt pointed out that this change would not increase the total available driving time; it would simply make it available at different times.
The spokesman also added that Germany is currently facing a shortage of over 100,000 truck drivers, though this is not a new problem.
