Writing on its website, Dansk Erhverv stressed that it has fought for the fees to be scrapped because they “weaken the competitiveness of the Danish transport industry”.
The industry body adds that the country’s haulage sector faces fierce international competition, and at the same time is facing the need to make large investments to transition to zero-emission vehicles and pay more road tax.
“We are very sorry that, from a political point of view, it is more expensive to run a trucking business in Denmark. We could do with having better conditions for the industry, not worse, given the many challenges we face,” says Jesper Kronborg, branch director of Dansk Erhverv Transport.
One permit must be used per vehicle, so the fees can add up quickly, says Dansk Erhverv.
The industry body writes that Denmark’s authorities expect to rake in approximately 15m DKK (€2m) annually from the permit charges. The income from the permits is to be used to cover the costs of monitoring the EU’s Mobility Package rules.
“The truck drivers are also hit by new administrative burdens in the shape of the EU’s Mobility Package, so when they also have to pay for the permits, they are hit doubly, while the state earns millions. It is not fair,” concludes Kronborg.
Dansk Erhverv’s comments echo those made by ATL back in March.
In an ATL press release, Mads Kloster, CEO of haulage firm Kloster A/S, had the following to say about the charges:
“It costs between 60 øre and three kroner to print the colored A4 sheets, and suddenly you have to add the equivalent of a lawyer’s fee for each piece of paper. And that’s for something that used to cost zero kroner. It’s extremely unreasonable!”
Rune Noack, Head of Transport Policy at DI Transport, added:
“It is deeply unfair to impose yet another tax on the freight transport industry. And at a time when a kilometre tax is also on the way.”
Photo: Lav Ulv / Flickr / CC BY 2.0e