The European Commission presented, on Tuesday 11 July, a communication aimed at reducing the environmental impact of freight transport. This communication is part of the current political framework and is based on three proposals: - a revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive; - a new rail management regulation; - a common methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emissions for freight companies.
Freight transport in the EU represents an annual turnover of €938 billion. “Through our initiatives, we want to increase the availability of rail capacity for freight and cross-border trains; we instate an accurate, homogenous system of counting emissions from transport operations and we make road transport more efficient”, summarised the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, in a statement.
Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President in charge of the European Green Deal, said: “Our proposals will help to get more zero-emission trucks on the road and make sure that this freight is handled in the most sustainable way possible, whether it travels by truck, train or barge”.
Weights and dimensions for heavy-duty vehicles
The Commission is proposing to revise the Weights and Dimensions Directive 96/53/EC for heavy-duty vehicles. “Today, around 53% of freight is carried by road in the EU and we will continue to need lorries”, said Ms Vălean.
At present, there is a patchwork of rules requiring carriers wanting to transport specific goods to apply for authorisation in each country they pass through.
In addition, the Commission wants to encourage the use of electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, as current measures have proved ineffective. 96.3% of trucks in the EU run on diesel. “We have not yet succeeded in providing sufficient incentives for zero-emission vehicles”, admitted a senior European official.
Electric lorries will be able to weigh an extra 4 tonnes, on top of the maximum authorised weight of 40 tonnes, and measure 90 centimetres longer. To promote intermodal transport, an additional height of 30 centimetres will be allowed to accommodate high-volume containers. The modal shift from road to rail freight is experiencing difficulties.
Finally, this revision aims to harmonise European modular systems, because some vehicles, although authorised in several Member States, cannot cross the border, or only on the basis of bilateral agreements. The Commission is therefore proposing a European framework to enable these vehicles to cross borders.
To read the proposed revision: https://aeur.eu/f/80l
Improving rail management
The new regulation aims to change the way rail is managed and improve cross-border coordination. Current rail management procedures in the Member States are annual, national and manual. Managers favour passenger transport, which leaves little capacity for freight.
What’s more, freight operates differently and needs greater flexibility. The annual system for allocating train paths is prohibitive for some hauliers, who will switch to road freight. 50% of rail transport is cross-border, and it is only profitable beyond 300 kilometres.
The Commission wants to set up a digital capacity planning system to make it interoperable between Member States. “This is what the industry and operators in the sector are asking for”, said the senior official. The idea is to offer them greater certainty, with a more efficient performance assessment process. Unused bookings will still be billed.
This optimisation of network capacity is estimated at 4%, bearing in mind that 4% of new track would cost €8.6 billion.
To read the draft regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/80k
CountEmissions EU
The Commission is proposing a regulation that includes a common methodological approach enabling companies to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions, if they choose to publish this information or if they are invited to share it for contractual reasons.
“Many logistic companies are already asking their transportation subcontractors to provide data on emissions”, explained Ms Vălean. “It is only fair that all companies play under the same rules”.
The proposed methodology is based on the recently adopted ISO/CEN standard for quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from the operation of passenger and freight transport chains.
This proposal aims to make reliable and comparable data on door-to-door emissions available, allowing operators to evaluate their services and consumers to make informed choices about transport and delivery options.
To read the draft regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/80j
The MEP, Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romanian), welcomed the presentation of this package: “It is a big step towards the ambition of shifting more traffic to rail”. “But like any other proposal presented by Frans Timmermans, also in this case, we must carefully look at the impact on costs, infrastructure and logistics to avoid unintended consequences”, he qualified in a press release.
His colleague, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, French), also welcomed the presentation of this package, but regretted that it had come so late. “By publishing its proposals less than a year before the end of its mandate, the Commission does not seem to be grasping the scale of the climate emergency”, she commented in a press release. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)