The solution in order to resolve the crisis of the road haulage - a report of Contship Italy emphasizes - consists in heading for the intermodalità



Which are the factors that have determined and aggravate the crisis of the field of the Italian road haulage? It has tried to characterize them the group Contship Italy, than specifically it is not engaged in this section being active mainly in the fields of the harbour terminalismo, the railway intermodalità and the logistics, but that it is confronted daily with the operators of the transport on rubber. A White Paper has been born some, in which the group she has collected a series of data useful to make the point on the various factors that influence dynamics of the field, and to reflect on some possible solutions to the crisis. Solutions that, from how much it is deduced from White Paper, in truth seem to stretch to have an axe to grind, since Contship Italy, referring in particular to the modal division, finds that "determined the economic and normative picture from the choices of the policy-makers is clearly legacy to double quantity thread to the availability and the economic sustainability of the railway alternatives, that they become progressively, to they time, flies of the transfer of the volumes from the road to the railroad. When sussistono the conditions in order to return this distance practicable, and when the political-economic choices support it - the White Paper emphasizes - are therefore possible to prime a vituous circle, that it affords to the operators to invest in the development of new services, insisting on dedicated infrastructure, economies of scale, know-how-how and sensibility of the market; market that in its turn recognizes, in the medium period, the economic advantages and operating legacies to a mix modal more balanced and sustainable, orienting the question towards I use more and more pushed and intelligent of the intermodal option".

In the document, from the title "the Italian road haulage, between conjunctural crisis, international competition and new models of business", Contship evidences as "the field of the transport on Italian rubber continuous to cross a difficult, tight period between the slow down of the increase to macroeconomic level, the competition with the conveyors foreign countries and the necessity to renew own model of business, in order to answer to the challenges taxes from the market and the technological evolution".

If "in Europe - the document finds - three quarters of the terrestrial transport goods on the road travel (76.4%) and less than a fifth (17.4%) on railroad; remaining quota (6.2%) moves through internal water ways. In Italy, this last modality is not used, and the split modal still more it is canted in favor of the street transport: 85.5% against 14,5% (given Eurostat 2016)". "From the data elaborated from Eurostat - the White Paper continues - one discovers that in the 2016 Italian transport it has enlivened on a national scale 881,330 thousands of tons of goods, totaling beyond 100.200 million ton-kilometer, with a medium distance covered for every travel pairs to 114 km. Regarding the activities of international transportation, carried out from Italian companies, is spoken instead of 20.170 thousands of enlivened tons and 12.355 million ton-kilometer, with a covered medium distance for every the 600 travel that exceeds km, considerably higher than recorded in Germany, France and Holland, and online instead with recorded how much in Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech Repubblica. In this competitive context, continuous Italy to suffer from a steady increase of the costs and a progressive reduction of the competitiveness: the cost for kilometer of the Italian heavy transport (excluding the structural costs) remains one of highest in Europe".

The report states moreover as Centro Studi of the Bank of Italy evidences that "the field of the transport on the road contributes in increasing way to the important deficit in the international balance of payments in the field of the transports, that characterizes the Italian economy structurally. In fact, the deficit generated from the transport on the road was in the 2008 pairs to -1,58 billion euros, gone up to -2,37 billion in 2013 and very -3,27 billion in 2017. The transport on the road is passed to the being the segment of market in a position to recording for 30.6% of the balance negative in 2008 to 54.6% of 2017 because of the continuous loss of competitiveness of the enterprises of the Italian road haulage".

"The vicinity to Countries competition source, characterized from a minor costs of labor (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Rumania) - the White Paper observes - does not help the Italian operators, that they have recorded, between 2008 and 2016, a decrease of the volume of transactions of 5% on a national level, and 10% to international level. To notice that 90% about of the activity of heavy transport of the Italian conveyors take place inside of the national borders, and only 10% regard international traffics".

Between the more pressing problems for the section of the road haulage, in general terms in the European Countries and in particular in Italy, the document cites the lack of qualified drivers. "The observatories are many - the White Paper finds - that they look to this dynamics as to one of the main factors that today limit the development of the logistic industry. The lack of drivers often becomes the bottle neck that hides behind the deficiency of cargo ability, which in its turn pushes towards high the prices of the service and the pressure tied to the times of delivery and a often excessive exploitation of the human resources available. The trend, particularly obvious since 2016, carries some analysts to assume an imminent collapse of the system, beginning from the Countries mainly involved from the problem, as Germany". According to the report, "the motivations of this deficiency of drivers go searched in the hardness of the trade, that it implies long travels away from home, hyper-flexible timetables and long waits, often not adequately which rewarded risks and difficulties, also because of the pressure on the salaries, maintained high from the competition of the foreign drivers and from the necessity of the companies to hold the costs under control. These elements contribute to limit the number of workers whom they choose to undertake the profession, raising progressively the medium age of the drivers".

Also Contship breaks to a nozzle in favor of the intermodal transport rimarcando the importance here to emphasize "as there is a deep difference between the conditions of job of the drivers engaged on drafts of long distance and those of the drivers who operate to support of the intermodal services. While first often they are engaged in long travels, than they obligate to pass them various days far from own house and from own family - the document emphasizes - the second ones usually conclude own day re-entering to the operating base and can choose not to work in the weekend. The organization of the job around the intermodal centers moreover affords to reduce the times of waited for the taken one in delivery of the return cargo, to use workshops of confidence for the repairs, and to reduce the necessity to carry out pauses and meal far from the territory of origin".

However Contship admits that if the intermodalità can represent an alternative, it is necessary but "to look to the data with realism: the ability to the railway system to absorb new volumes - the document explains - is not limitless, and considering the strong loss of balance of split modal between road and the railroad it is easy to have a premonition as he is unthinkable to directly transfer a quota consisting of the street traffics on track, without massive infrastructural investments, that they demand huge resources, long times and political and social consent, for being realized".

Other factor that hung on the Italian road haulage is that of the costs of labor and exercise of the vehicles. "From the data elaborated by Hannibal, multimodale operator of the group Contship Italy - the document explains - discovers that the cost of the salary of the drivers represents the more important voice, between the operating costs of a heavy vehicle, and it exceeds little, in average, the 55,000 €/anno for driver, followed from the cost of the fuel (34,500 €/anno), from the tolls (13,000 €/anno), from the costs of amortization of means (15,000 €/anno for the engine, 2,700 €/anno for the semitowing), from the costs of repair and maintenance (8,000 €/anno), from the cost of tires (4,000 €/anno), of the assurances (6,500 €/anno) and of the taxes (1,500 €/anno)". Relatively in costs of labor - specific the White Paper - "substantial differences between the several Countries persist; Italy is according to Country, after Belgium, where the costs of labor out-top, more of the double quantity than it is recorded in Countries as Bulgaria, Rumania, Lithuania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia".

As for the social dumping goods in foreign market, the document finds that “from the studies of the CNR - Comité National French Routier emerges as they are changed, during the last few years, the practical ones of the carrier Italian, more and more interested to hire foreign drivers, directly or through subsidiaries active in States foreign countries; to such purpose, the substantial difference in the emolument of the job, that it arrives until 20%, between Italian drivers and employed foreign drivers with Italian contracts remains meaningful”.

Moreover the report evidences that “the cost of the fuel, according to operating costs in importance order, represents an ulterior element of compression of the margins of the operators, also by virtue of the price increases, recorded during the last few years (+26% from January 2016 to March 2019)”. To this the increases of the cost of the tolls are added: “although the block of increases 2019, put into effect from the Ministry of Transportation on 90% of the Italian highway net - the White Paper specifies - the trend of last the 10 years, as well as in Italy how much in Europe, ago to mark rates in steady increase. From January 2019 important increases in Austria and Germany are recorded, while in France it is discussed quite about a ecotassa additional for vehicles foreign. For the Italian conveyors, engaged in the international transportation, they go considered also the increases of the rates tied to border crossings, as in the case of tunnel of Monte Bianco and Frejus (+2.73% from on January 1°, 2019) and from the limitations taxes to the heavy vehicles, as the block total for means over the 7,5 tons that do not satisfy the Euro4 standard, relative to the two tunnels Italian-French as soon as cited, and the proposal Austrian to limit ulteriorly the transboundary commercial traffic of Brenner, being introduced ulterior limitations as the night prohibition for the perishable goods, and new sector prohibition, extended also to the vehicles Euro6”.

As for the possible solutions in order to exit from the crisis, the document observes that, “from the organizational point of view, the business consolidation can afford to the operators more performing than to reach the critical mass necessary to return the investments useful possible to modernize the fleets, to experience fuels and alternative systems of propulsion, as the LNG and the electric motors, and new models of transport, as the platooning, besides the optimization of the coefficients of cargo and to the reduction of the distances in vain, that they remain the elements of optimization more easy actionable in the short period. The knot of the issue - White Paper emphasizes - remains but the necessity to redistribute the heavy traffic, limiting the most possible drafts than long distance and taking advantage of the flexibility of the street carrier in order at the same time to serve effectively the distribution of first and last mile, improving availability, speed and quality of the intermodal railway services, that they already today represent a reliable and sustainable alternative to the transport all-road, on main guiding national and the international ones”.