Madrid, Spain: Spain’s road transport association Fenadismer has secured a raft of new measures to help hauliers.
The measures include agreements on loading/unloading, lorry parking, RDC performance, road tolls and fuel costs. As a result, the pre-Christmas strike due to take place has been cancelled.
One of the most important measures is to limit waiting times at distribution centres to just one hour, after which the carrier will have the right to demand compensation. An investigation is also to be carried out into the current waiting times at RDCs in order to find the source of the problem of long waiting times and suggest possible solutions.
Another measure is to ban lorry drivers from carrying out loading and unloading =, with only a few applicable exceptions. The ban will not take place immediately, however. Businesses have been given a six-month grace period in which to recruit and train forklift operators and other staff involved in their loading/unloading processes.
Another measure in the agreement means that the transport rates the carriers receive from their customers can be pegged to the price of diesel. The change will apply to all continuing transport contracts, whether written or verbal. For this to apply, the invoice must include a breakdown of the impact the price of fuel has had on the final transport cost.
The construction of new safe parking areas for trucks will be allocated €20m, while existing parking areas will also be upgraded to improve safety. Some €140m has been allocated for the digitisation of transport companies and digital training of transport professionals.
The Ministry of Labour will conduct a study of the current national insurance contributions applicable to lorry drivers, which road transport firms currently have to pay. Given the drop in accidents in recent years, hauliers believe the payments should be lowered.
The legislation required to implement the measures is expected to be rubber stamped within 60 days.
The Road Haulage Association’s managing director of policy and public affairs, Rod McKenzie, Tweeted: “Interesting win for Spanish truckers here …RDC waiting times limited to an hour stands out but its an interesting package which many in the UK would agree with.”
