Impact of 2023 on the transport market and expectations for 2024

According to experts, the European transport market shrank by 0.4% last year. 2023 was not the best year for some players in the transport market. The road haulage market has contracted for a number of reasons, including a fall in imports and a drop in demand. According to the OECD, EU industrial production and therefore sales and industrial production also fell in 2023.

High inflation did not help hauliers last year either, because while they had far fewer contracts, they had to spend much more to survive. Drivers’ salaries rose by 8.3%, overheads by 6.9%, tolls by 4% and insurance premiums by 4.3% in the year to Q3 2023.

The transport market is likely to be slowed down again this year by a number of factors. These include the continuing driver shortage, inflation and high operating and maintenance costs. According to the IMF, all industries should see a slight recovery this year, thanks to a continued upturn in the purchasing power of European consumers. According to long-term forecasts, the European transport market will grow by an average of 1.7% per year until 2027, with a real value of up to €490 853.

The boom in e-commerce and the automotive industry could both help the transport market, but the forecasts are still rather uncertain. The Ukrainian-Russian war and the response to inflation are major factors. If the economy starts to recover in 2024, this could also be a positive development for hauliers, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as we all know that freight rates have been at a very low level for a long time, and the situation is not helped by the CO2 tax introduced in Germany last year, which will be mandatory in other countries this year.

2. Goodbye, old tachographs!

For many hauliers, this year will be marked by the replacement of the tachograph, as a new era begins with the departure of older digital tachographs. The EU’s long-standing ambition is to change the rules on tachographs to keep up with the times and to reflect current technologies. To meet this expectation, everyone will have to replace their devices with a grace period of a few years.

2024. utolsó napjáig működhetnek a még meglévő korongos vagy régi típusú menetírók, 2025. szeptemberére pedig ki kell cserélni a 2019 óta szerelt, első generációs intelligens menetírókat is a legújabb típusokra. 2026 nyarától pedig menetírót kell használjanak a nemzetközi fuvarozásban résztvevő, 2,5-3,5 tonna közötti kisteherautók sofőrjei is.

At least 40,000 tachographs will be replaced this year as a result of the replacement call. The new tachographs will automatically record the current position of vehicles several times a day, for example at the start or end of working hours, when crossing borders or every time they are loaded or unloaded.

3. Driver makes a mistake: is the employer also responsible?

When the transport task is handed over to the driver, the task and responsibility of organising the work is transferred to the driver. The employer is only responsible for ensuring that the assigned journey and task can be carried out in accordance with the legal requirements and that the driver has sufficient time to rest (rest periods must be observed).

The driver card data must be downloaded every 28 days and the tachograph at least every 90 days. The downloaded data must be evaluated and if any errors are detected, they must be brought to the driver’s attention. On this basis, the driver must admit when he has made a mistake and undertake not to set a similar precedent in the future. As an employer, we must also keep the downloaded data for one year and must make it available to the authorities if requested to do so.

However, software does not always detect all errors. In fact, they sometimes tend to evaluate certain activities in reverse, i.e. good as bad and bad as acceptable. This is why there is a strong need for evaluation software and data to be reviewed at all times. However, there is no legal obligation to evaluate data immediately after downloading, but it is important to do so every 28 days. Experts recommend that it is best to download more frequently to avoid potential conflicts and to finish the sentence more recently.