German freight forwarder builds a hotel for truckers

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Lack of adequate parking infrastructure and increasingly restrictive regulations on drivers’ work time force carriers to look for more and more sophisticated solutions, often very expensive ones. An entrepreneur from Germany decided to build a hotel for employees and a parking lot for trucks.

The Langenwinkel council, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, gave the local forwarder last Tuesday permission to build a hotel and a parking lot.

In this industrial region, there is a lack of parking spots for trucks – informs the local newspaper Badische Zeitung. As a result, truckers are forced to stop even in residential areas.

How to comply with the ban on sleeping in the cabin

The hotel with the parking lot solves the second serious problem – it will allow drivers and carriers to comply with the regulations that have been in force for a year and prohibit 45-hour rest in the cabin.

The German forwarder plans to create a small hotel with 42 single rooms. The building will also have toilets, showers, and a common room.

The entrepreneur’s plan met with considerable criticism from the Internet users. „Breeding pests”, „Fleas and bedbugs inclusive” are just some of the comments that appeared under the article posted by one of the German trucker groups.

Hotel for truckers in the Netherlands

An ingenious entrepreneur from Germany was not the first in the transport industry who came up with the idea.

Don Trucking, which has branches in Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, decided to invest in hotels for drivers earlier this year. It was a response to the introduction in the Netherlands of a ban on taking a regular weekly rest in the cabin of a truck. The carrier, wishing to avoid fines for violations related to the new prohibition, decided to create a suitable resting place for its employees – drivers coming mainly from Poland and Romania.

As the Dutch transport portal ttm.nl reported a few months ago, Don Trucking wants its drivers „to enjoy a weekend of rest in tidy conditions.” A trucker hotel is being built in the Dutch town of Ulft. There will be 10 rooms with a total of 26 places to sleep and toilets. Drivers can enjoy a healthy dinner and breakfast. They will also be able to use the kitchen.

Editor’s comment

Carriers building hotels? This is just another proof that the regulations introduced in Western Europe are detached from reality. Lack of adequate accommodation and parking infrastructure in the European Union does not allow for compliance with regulations applicable in the countries of the Old Union. The ban on taking 45-hour rest in the cabin leads to a situation in which carriers instead of focusing on their key activities, build hotels. Was this the authorities’ intention?

Photo: Pxhere.com/ CC0 Public domain

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