Start of Toll Increase Using the Example of the Steel Forwarding Company Hergarten

An additional CO₂ tax will nearly double toll fees for trucks starting December 2023. Forwarding companies must pass on the additional costs to their customers to remain somewhat profitable. The increase hits the steel industry particularly hard, as there are hardly any specialized transport companies, leading to a further tightening of supply.

(Köln) Marcel Hergarten does not beat around the bush. In a letter to his customers, the managing director of Hergarten GmbH states that he will pass on the toll increase effective December 1, 2023, one hundred percent to his clients. The company, based in Cologne, specializes in logistics, transport, and storage of steel goods in a challenging market and has been collaborating with Günther + Schramm GmbH, a system service provider for steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, for many years. “We have scarce resources, rising costs in many areas, and now the toll increase on top of that,” says Hergarten. “If the customer does not want or cannot take on the surcharge, further cooperation is hardly possible.”

To illustrate the specific additional burden, Hergarten uses the example of a Euro-6 truck with five axles and a permissible total weight of over 18 tons. Currently, the toll rate is 19 cents/km, but starting in December, the so-called CO₂ surcharge will be added, which for this vehicle amounts to 15.8 cents/km. The total then comes to 34.8 cents/km, representing an increase of 83.2 percent. Such a thing has never happened in the history of tolls. Hergarten will list and charge the additional burden as a surcharge in the freight agreements. “Only in this way can we ensure the economic viability of our transports,” assures Hergarten. “We must speak openly and honestly with customers about this issue; there is no other way.”

Doubling of Toll Revenues for the Federal Government

The impact of the additional CO₂ tax on transport costs can be calculated simply. Currently, tolls account for about ten percent of variable vehicle costs and thus also ten percent of total costs. If toll costs are now raised by an average of 70 percent, transport costs will increase from 100 to 107 percent. Additionally, there are rising wages for drivers and increasing energy prices.

In total, according to the traffic light coalition government, toll revenues are expected to rise from 7.8 billion euros to 15 billion euros next year. The additional funds are intended for the expansion of the railway. The government has committed 45 billion euros for the expansion of rail infrastructure. The toll increase is expected to contribute significantly to this.

The drastic toll increase affects not only the steel industry but practically every sector, from chemicals to food to consumer goods. The entire German transport industry is anxious about its future. “It is not getting any easier for us,” says Bernhard Seibold, managing director at Günther + Schramm. “The current situation in the transport industry is already difficult enough, and we all depend on supply through trucks.” The public must understand this supply infrastructure and appeal to politics to reconsider the toll increase.

Campaign #mauteverest of the BVL

The Federal Association of Freight Transport, Logistics, and Disposal e.V. (BGL) is taking a combative stance and has organized the campaign “#mauteverest – we won’t get over the mountain this way” online. This aims to draw public attention specifically to the CO₂ tax and increase pressure on politics without alienating them. Instead, “critical and solution-oriented positions in a positive, future-oriented appearance” are to be communicated.

The toll increase is not a solution for the future but will become a driver of inflation. “We are ready to discuss concrete solutions, but we do not want to be cleverly sent over the ‘toll Everest.'”

Small and medium-sized transport companies are particularly affected by the financial double burden, as more than 80 percent of businesses have fewer than 20 employees. The majority of transport is thus handled by the middle class, which, after many price increases in recent years, can hardly enforce further price increases with clients, as they themselves have enough problems.

Marcel Hergarten knows all too well the dramas unfolding in his industry. “The father brings in the orders, the mother handles the accounting, the son works in the workshop, and if necessary, the boss himself takes the wheel,” describes Hergarten the typical situation in a small family business. “They fight around the clock and have no time to deal with such an issue.” And a financial cushion is usually not available.

“The toll increase will lead to another consolidation,” Hergarten is sure. “In recent years, many forwarding companies have already given up, but the situation will worsen again; one must realize this.” Especially in his industry, steel transport, there are hardly any transport companies left. If capacities from the middle class were lost again due to the toll increase, the steel trade would face a significant problem. “The dealer can buy the best material at the lowest price, but he wouldn’t be able to get it to the customer because there are no vehicles available.”

The Toll Increase Will Reach the Supermarket

The toll increase is more than just another problem for the transport industry and will ultimately affect everyone. Because consumer goods manufacturers and food suppliers will also pass on the additional costs, the CO₂ tax will ultimately be felt in supermarkets as well. The Bavarian Association of Transport and Logistics Companies (LBT) can specify this phenomenon. Estimates from the association have shown that a family of four will incur up to 370 euros in additional costs per year due to the toll increase. Another burden that must somehow be managed.

Behind the CO₂ tax is, of course, a good idea. The federal government hopes for a steering effect towards trucks with alternative drives. But in reality, they hardly exist. Currently, according to the BGL, only 0.03 percent of trucks on German roads are electric. Bernhard Seibold can only confirm this: “When you look at the registration numbers, we are talking about a few hundred trucks in Germany equipped with alternative drives.” Manufacturers are not even able to provide such vehicles in large quantities.

Doubts About Implementation

Additionally, an electric truck currently costs about 3.5 times as much as a diesel truck. Furthermore, there is currently not a single mega-charger that can charge a truck during a driving break to at least reach its next loading and unloading station. “If politics cannot even provide enough parking spaces for trucks, how is that supposed to work with the charging infrastructure?” sums up Bernhard Seibold succinctly.

Photo: © Hergarten