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50 Turkey and Greece Special International Transport Journal 35-36 2013Conflict over cross-border long-distance traffic resolved for the time beingTurks appease BulgariansBulgaria belonged to the Ottoman Empirefor almost five hundred years. Despite– or perhaps because of – this long commonhistory, communication between theBalkan country and its neighbour to thesoutheast seems difficult. Current disputesabout the bilateral cross-border transportindustry confirm the impression.In mid-August representatives of the Bulgarianassociation of international transportcompanies (Aebtri) and the Bulgarianassociation of automobile transportcompanies (Basat) issued a warning thatTurkey was planning to introduce newtransit fees for foreign-registered trucks.The Turkish government’s 7 Augustcommuniqué revealed, the Bulgarsclaimed, that new charges were going tobe many times higher than existing ones.Transporting a truckload across the borderto Istanbul and back would cost Bulgariantruckers EUR 200–300 more, theassociations feared.Aebtri and Basat officials were concernedthat the introduction of newtariffs by their Turkish colleagues representedthe silent promotion of Turkishprotectionism. They thought the Turksintended to sweep Bulgarian transportcompanies from the market, not only forloads between Europe and Turkey, butalso for business to and from the MiddleEastern market.«This affects a huge number of Bulgariancompanies and puts hundreds ofthousands of jobs at risk in the sector,»Aebtri’s Koitscho Russev warned. Hecalled on the Bulgarian government to«take reciprocal measures,» otherwise hethreatened that Bulgarian truck driverswould again block border posts to andfrom Turkey – as they had already donein May.Tempers flare in a hot summer«The new transit fees do not apply toBulgarian hauliers,» Bulgaria’s transportminister Danail Papasov finally clarifiedon 21 August. The new tariffs, he said,only affect vehicle owners from countriesMutual dependence. Turkish road hauliers’ transport routes to Europe lead through Sofia, whilstBulgarian trucks heading for the Middle East have to pass through Istanbul.that have not concluded a bilateral agreementwith Turkey covering the transportindustry. Bulgaria and Turkey have hadsuch an agreement in place since 1977.«We have an official guarantee from theTurkish transport ministry that Bulgariantrucks crossing the border into Turkeyonly have to pay EUR43, same as they’vepaid so far,» Papasov said, calming frayedtempers.So the danger of border blockadesseems to have receded for the moment,but the representatives of the Bulgariantransport sector do not consider thematter resolved. «We didn’t only raisethe issue of the new transport fees, butalso drew attention to the matter of theproposed penalties for incorrect shippingdocuments. In future Turkish borderguards will be allowed to demand up toEUR 3,000 from Bulgarian truck drivers,even if they aren’t responsible for a defectivedocument,» Basat’s Petko Angelovsaid.Not the first disputeIn mid-May Bulgarian truck drivers hadblocked the border crossings at KapitanAndreevo and Lesovo for several days.The action caused up to 10 km lorryqueues. The protests, then as now, weredirected against what in the Bulgarians’view is discriminatory treatment andharassment of hauliers by Turkish borderofficials.The Turks claimed that they were simplyimplementing valid internationalcross-border freight transportation rules.They claimed that slow Bulgarian repairworks were responsible for border delaysat Kapitan Andreevo. Frank Stierwww.aebtri.comwww.basat.euNo room for polemicsCommentIt is difficult to determine who wasresponsible for the failure of communicationbetween the Bulgarian and Turkishtransport industries. Bulgaria would bewell advised not to exacerbate the conflictwith polemics but to seek a constructivesolution. The 8 million inhabitants of arather small Balkan country could greatlybenefit from the economic dynamism of itsneighbouring «tiger on the Bosphorus».Bulgarian consumers are presently notspending, and as a consequence the Bulgarianeconomy is stagnating. Bulgarian-Turkish trade is developing positively, onthe other hand. Statistics for the first halfof 2013 indicate that there was significantgrowth compared to the same period lastyear. Bulgaria’s exports to Turkey grewby 21% to EUR2billion, and imports byalmost 27% to EUR1.4billion.Photo: Frank Stier
International Transport Journal 35-36 2013 Central Europe51Same tenor in Germany, Austria and Switzerland«The railways mustwin back lost volumes»The closure of many rail loading stations has led to a shift of traffic from rail to road,not only in Switzerland but also in Austria. In both cases these rationalisation measureswere a consequence of economic pressure rather than a response to environmentalconsiderations. The loser of these changes is wagonload traffic.Three Central European colleagues – hostDr Frank Furrer, secretary general of VAPSwitzerland, Jürgen Tuscher, of VPI Germany(on the left), Frank Petutschnig, of VPI Austria.Photo: Wilf SeifertThe number of Austrian rail loading stations has beenreduced from 540 to 461 since 2010. At the same time, aspecial service freight surcharge has been introduced at76 stations. In many cases both measures became effectivewithin six weeks after their announcement, causinguncertainty among shippers with regard to the future ofthe terminals that remained.The handling of timber was more than proportionallyaffected by this retrograde ecological step. «This is notthe end of the story either,» Frank Petutschnig, secretarygeneralof Austria’s private wagon association VPI prophesiedin mid-May at a Swiss transport industry associationVAP's Freight Wagon Forum in Zurich. A further roundof reductions to 420 stations was announced at the end oflast year, and this, it is calculated by Rail Cargo Austria,will result in nearly 35,000 more truck journeys per year.However, there is some good news. Petutschnig has submitteda set of strategic measures to strengthen railfreighttraffic to the Austrian government.Three examples.• A support programme for the provision of rail freightservices in the single-wagon traffic, unaccompaniedcombined transport and rolling motorway (ro-mo)segments.• «New» support for private sidings and terminals up tothe year 2017.• Strategic objectives in the form of a master transportplan, incorporating current measures. The aim is for40% of Austrian goods traffic to be carried by rail by2025 (in 2010 it was 33%).Single-wagon traffic in decline all over Europe«The shift of freight traffic from road to rail must bebacked by political will and must be defined by concreteobjectives, not wishes,» Petutschnig placed on record.For the assurance of a high-quality, sustainable offeringhe argued for a reduction in production costs over thelast mile, more intensive customer care and cooperationwith other rail transport enterprises and forwarders, etc.The talk by Petutschnig’s German opposite numberJürgen Tuscher, chief executive of his country’s privatewagon association VPI, was also devoted to the main topicof single-wagon traffic. Between 2011 and 2012, transportvolumes in Germany fell by 2.4% to 366million t in termsof goods carried, and by 2.7% to 110 billion in terms oftonne-kilometres. In Tuscher’s view, the political supportfor the transfer of freight to rail is not so marked in Germany as it is inits neighbouring countries to the south. «Our politicians seem to be moreinterested in the subject of overlong HGVs,» he remarked wryly.Tuscher illustrated the profitability dilemma facing European staterailways with four core statements.• In recent years, no major rail freight undertaking has made sufficientprofits to allow for reinvestment.• A number of principal competitors are faced with large deficits andserious structural challenges.• Irrational margin expectations (keyword break-even point) encouragesdistortions of competition.• It is difficult, in the face of intermodal competition, to pass pan-Europeancost increases on to customers.Wilf SeifertSchiffahrts- und Speditions-AktiengesellschaftF I ATAwww.navis-ag.comHamburg · Bremen · Hannover · FreibergRotterdam · Antwerpen · Barcelona
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