The Northern Chamber of Commerce and the West Pomeranian Association of Road Transporters draw attention to the difficult situation of the transport sector in Poland. Rising road tariffs in Germany, complications resulting from the war in Ukraine, fuel prices, and primarily the very restrictive rules resulting from the implementation of the mobility package, are issues that cannot be overlooked. We realize that drivers are struggling to survive,” says Hanna Mojsiuk, President of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin. “We call for dialogue with the Ministry of Infrastructure, as well as other organizations at the European level who are able to support Polish transport and protect our carriers from bankruptcy. Current regulations are not in our favor,” says Hanna Mojsiuk.
Vice President of the West Pomeranian Association of Road Transporters: “The transport sector is being bled dry”
For months, the West Pomeranian Association of Road Transporters has been cooperating with the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin to support the competitiveness of the Polish TSL sector. Carriers in particular find themselves in a difficult situation.
“For months, not much has been happening regarding the situation of carriers. The Mobility Package was adopted, which was implemented very unfavorably for the Polish transport sector. As the TSL sector, we operate not only locally but globally. Therefore, we are expected to comply with all the rules that Poland is obliged to follow by the European Union. In this way, we are unable to compete, for example, with transport companies from across the eastern border and this causes many discussions and protests,” says Piotr Krzyżankiewicz, Vice President of the West Pomeranian Association of Road Transporters.
“The Mobility Package is a mortal threat to us. Carriers in Lithuania or Romania, for example, face lower social or tax burdens. We are burdened with costs and are uncompetitive. I’ll say it straight: road carriers in Poland are being bled dry,” adds Piotr Krzyżankiewicz, an expert at the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin.
“In 2023, the number of debt recoveries in the transport sector increased significantly. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Germany is introducing new toll rates and we fear this will exacerbate the difficult situation of Polish carriers. Many companies were specifically focused on carrying out transport activities with Germany or through Germany,” adds Piotr Krzyżankiewicz.
President Laura Hołowacz: “Transports that were profitable in 2019 no longer generate profits today”
As added by Laura Hołowacz, President of the Board of the CSL Group, supporting Polish transport is important as it is one of the strongest sectors in the Polish economy, and at the same time a sector vulnerable to serious perturbations resulting from international situations.
“We are very concerned about the signals about the difficult situation of Polish carriers, but this is unfortunately true. Polish carriers have for many years been seen on the international market as a powerhouse. We won on price, service quality, timeliness. Unfortunately, rising labor costs, as well as a range of regulations, including the mobility package and increased costs for using roads in Europe, strongly affect the profitability of the transport sector. In this specific case, we are becoming uncompetitive, and many orders that were very profitable for the Polish TSL sector before the pandemic now have no chance of generating profitability,” says Laura Hołowacz, President of the CSL Group.
“Small family businesses have it the hardest. They usually shut down quietly,” adds President Laura Hołowacz, while also calling for greater openness in this sector to cooperation.
“As CSL, we call on transport companies to turn to freight forwarders for cargoes. We have a lot of goods that we can pass on for transport, for example from Świnoujście. Finding carriers is not easy, it is not easy to reach them,” adds President Laura Hołowacz.
