Status: 02/22/2023 1:45 p.m
Bad roads, dilapidated bridges and lengthy approval procedures: Heavy transport is becoming increasingly difficult in Germany. This puts a strain on industry and also jeopardizes the energy transition.
The agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere is currently in the high season. The harvest period will soon begin in Africa, and at the branch in Zweibrücken, Rhineland-Palatinate, where combine harvesters and large forage harvesters are manufactured, it is currently not known how all the orders are to be brought to the customers. Plant manager Cornelia Walde explains: “According to the Autobahn GmbH, all routes on German autobahns to the seaports in Belgium, which are important for our exports, are blocked for large-capacity and heavy transport with a width of more than 3.25m, which require a permit.”
“No longer able to handle transports”
The Autobahn GmbH is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Transport (BMDV) and has been responsible for the planning, operation and maintenance of the Autobahns in Germany since 2021. The ministry reports: “Autobahn GmbH has been gradually introducing new automated processes in its branches for several months. It has been shown that the process runs much more efficiently and quickly after the changeover.”
John Deere complains that Autobahn GmbH is leaving the responsibility for finding alternative routes to the transport companies, has already rejected a number of routes and does not provide any support in finding the route, “so that our transport companies will no longer be able to handle the transports from March 2023”. This is not only due to motorway construction sites that are too narrow, but also to lengthy and expensive approval procedures for the transports.
Infrastructure and bureaucracy slow down the economy
Sebastian Steul from the Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering criticizes the lack of transparency on the part of the authorities: “The specifications for obtaining a permit are often unclear or cannot be implemented, are processed too late or are rejected.” In addition, there are major differences between the authorities as to which papers and documents have to be provided for the approval of the transports.
All of this causes great uncertainty in the industry and makes it almost impossible to calculate projects. Companies cannot foresee when they will receive the approval notice for their transport project. Only when this is available can construction, assembly and commissioning of a new system be finally planned.
Corona pandemic is having an impact
If there is a delay due to pending approvals, this triggers a logistical chain reaction. In most cases, truck transport on German roads is only the first stage, which is followed by further transport by sea and in the recipient country by truck. If one of the transport vehicles is not reached, serious costs arise and usually contractual penalties.
After the corona pandemic, logistics capacities are only limited on the market anyway. Newly announced requirements for night driving and expanded police escorts are causing companies like John Deere additional concerns.
Walde fears that other transport companies could withdraw from the market. “These additional enormous tightening pose even greater challenges to the feasibility of our transports and drive the associated additional expenses with the seven-digit amounts to a critical level for our company alone.”
The bridges are the biggest problem
The need for large-capacity and heavy-duty transports has increased steadily in Germany in recent years, but the road network has a major renovation backlog. Christopher Gerhard from the Federal Roads Office writes: “In addition to the aging of the infrastructure, the loads on bridge structures in the course of the federal trunk roads have increased significantly in recent years and in some cases led to damage to the structures.”
And further: “Depending on the existing damage, heavy traffic on the bridge must be partially or completely restricted. In addition, the number of heavy transports requiring approval has increased exponentially, especially in the last decade.” This also affects the condition of the bridges, according to Gerhard.
Germany stands on its own feet
But the companies depend on good infrastructure. In 2022, the export rate in German mechanical engineering was a good 80 percent. In the meantime, many companies across Germany consider the transport costs to be too high in relation to the profitability of the overall project.
And the energy transition proclaimed by the federal government is also wobbling due to the transport problem. The blades of wind turbines, which are sometimes 100 meters long, represent a special challenge that in many places can only be mastered with a lot of time, money and detours. Germany as a business location stands in the way of both the long-awaited economic upswing and the targeted independence in terms of energy supply.
Faster methods might help
The Association of German Mechanical and Plant Engineering (VDMA) is therefore calling for approval procedures to be accelerated to three weeks with the help of standardization. Digital maps are intended to help with this, from which unusable route sections can be immediately identified.
Such routes could then be omitted when applying for transport approval, which in turn would save processing time at the authorities, emphasizes VDMA officer Steul. “The creation of designated heavy-duty corridors or the approval of convoy journeys would also make things easier for everyone involved.”
Why not plane, train or ship?
In an information brochure, the Ministry of Transport only states that large-capacity and heavy-duty road transport can only be approved if “rail transport or a split rail/road transport is not possible or would cause unreasonable additional costs.” According to a study from the end of 2020, it is striking that “the evidence to be provided is neither submitted by the applicants nor requested by the approval authorities”.
Such exemptions would certainly be possible for the large agricultural machines from John Deere. When asked about alternative transport options, the company explains: “There are no alternative means of transport for our harvesting machines. Due to the dimensions of the machines, transport by train or plane is not possible. Air transport would also be uneconomical.”
A section-by-section transport on the Rhine is theoretically possible, but this would not prevent the combine harvesters from having to be brought from the factory by road to the river port in Mannheim. “Therefore, there would be the same challenges for the truck transfer as for truck transport to the seaports. In addition, there is a significantly higher effort for loading/transshipping and the longer transport route.”
Construction sites as a bottleneck
And with the bad roads, the cat finally bites its own tail: In order to improve the situation, many construction sites are simply necessary, and these in turn are additional obstacles for the heavy transport. The Federal Ministry of Transport writes: “It is always important to find a balance between the protection of road safety and the infrastructure, especially the bridges, on the one hand, and the interests of the economy on the other. Certain specifications for the protection of the infrastructure are absolutely necessary.”
There is also a way in between, says Walde from John Deere: Motorway construction sites could also be temporarily approved for transports with a width of more than 3.25 meters until the companies have adapted to the situation in terms of production technology and logistics. Your group has already written to the federal and state ministries of transport with appropriate proposals for practicable solutions. So far, however, no answer has been received.