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Current market status 10-2020

Updated: Dec 1, 2020

The world of logistics is not easy. It never has been and it never will be. The constant imbalance of supply and demand, new regulations, the climate and since this year: viruses. So many things are of influence. For road transport in Europe, the market is extra hard now. In this blog we will explain the current status.


Factor #1: there's a lot of supply


Momentarely there is a lot of supply. Both export and import. Industries are getting along quite nicely and the orders from the far east are being processed in. Especially Great Britain is hoarding supplies at the moment. The Brexit is very unpredictable. Will there be an agreement or not at the end of this year? A lot of factories are not taking any change. They are loading up. This extracts transport capacity off the market on the European mainland. The costs will rise because of the shortage.


Factor #2: there are not many drivers and trucks


The second factor of the current marketing situation is the shortage of drivers. We have written an elaborate blog about this. Being a truck driver is no longer a popular choice because of the low pay in proportion to the increasing amount of paperwork and rising fines for minor offences and the long time away from home.


That’s why we there's a shortage of national or EU drivers. Transport companies are more than happy to hire Rumanian or Bulgarian drivers or charters. Even now, only 5 months after the intense corona lockdown period, there is already a great shortage.


Factor #3: the mobility pact


For international road transport in Europe the market needs Romanina and Bulgarian trucks and drivers. There simply are not enough West-Europeans who want to do this job or they are too expencive. The rates are low. Too low. And that has been going on for quite some time now (more information about why? Read our blog). The mobility pact is making thing worse now. Much worse. The most difficult rules are now:


  1. Return of the driver to the country of origin will be mandatory every 4 weeks for each period of 3 or 4 consecutive working weeks. How much will this cost them?

  2. Obligation to return trucks to the company’s headquarters every eight weeks. Again: high costs;

  3. Drivers need to take their regular weekly rest period (more than 45 hours) in a suitable accommodation place paid by the company. Are these places already available?


Many foreign companies are small businesses with 4 to 6 or 10 trucks max. Figuring this out is not easy for such companies. Many of them quit all together. The market for lease trucks has collapsed in those countries. In our blog about the mobility pact we predicted this. Again: more shortage of drivers will cause the rates to go up.


The market situation is extremely difficult at the moment. Please book your containers well in advance.


We will keep working on finding good solutions to service all our clients! You can always call: 085-111 7655.


Charter organizations are most welcome at the moment. Please read our special page.


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