According to Fenadismer, the National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain, the Catalan Traffic Service has announced a truck ban on the AP7 motorway every Sunday in September. The reason for the prohibition is the massive traffic jams that occurred last weekend, which was the first weekend when road tolls were lifted on the motorway.
The measure, which hauliers describe as “irrational”, will have, “catastrophic consequences for Spanish exports”, warns Fenadsimer.
The federation says that 60% of exports go through the AP-7 to the rest of Europe. Many of these transports happen on Sunday afternoons so that lorries arrive at the French border by the time the French Sunday truck ban is over.
Fenadismer estimates that some 12,000 trucks travel on this motorway from all over Spain, and that “their activity will be reduced by at least one working day, as they will not have any alternative to access the border”.
Therefore, the Spanish federation plans to request that the Spanish Government prevents the measure from being approved.