Protests against toll increase in Germany

Gilching, near Munich - REICHHART Logistik is not participating in the ongoing protests due to the company’s recovery from a professional cyber attack that occurred in October 2023. However, the company supports the protests against the toll increase in form of peaceful, authorized initiatives, such as the truck protests organized by the Landesverbandes bayerischer Transport und Logistikunternehmen (LBT -Bavarian Association of Transport and logistics companies), that is scheduled for January 12th in Munich.

Throughout Germany, starting from 08.01.2024, in addition to the protests by the agricultural sector, there have also been numerous protests by the transport industry. One of the triggers for the transport industry's protests is the toll increase introduced by the federal government effective on 01.12.2023.

"The toll increase basically means an almost doubling of the toll costs - that is not acceptable for the industry and especially for medium-sized companies, as well as for the population in general. This is why protests, such as the ones initiated by the LBT, are absolutely understandable and important," says Alexander Reichhart, CEO of REICHHART Logistik.

In addition to the drastic toll increase, industry associations are criticizing the lack of Involvement of medium-sized companies when it comes to finding solutions and making joint decisions, particularly for projects related to energy transition and sustainability.

As a medium-sized family business, REICHHART Logistik is highly committed to projects and technologies advancing sustainability. Examples include the company’s own decarbonization strategy and investment in biomethane drives, a competitive technology that already enables CO2-neutral truck transportation. However, only electric vehicles are excluded from the CO2 toll, while neither technology nor infrastructure are currently anywhere near industry standard. Therefore, implementing decarbonized transports on a mass scale with electric trucks is simply not possible at this time.

"To drive sustainability and achieve the energy transition, we need to be open to new technologies, have a clear interest in finding solutions and engage in active discourse with technical experts and companies. Politics need to avoid making general, out-of-practice decisions that cause systemically relevant industries to falter and ultimately place a financial burden on end consumers," explains Alexander Reichhart.

Although REICHHART Logistik is not actively involved in the ongoing protest actions at this point, the reasons for this are independent of current events. The logistics company was the victim of a professional cyber-attack at the end of October 2023 and is currently in the process of extensive IT reconstruction. Nevertheless, REICHHART Logistik considers the protests to be important and necessary measures to raise awareness among political decision makers about the grievances and to highlight the need for an active exchange, especially with medium-sized companies.

Like the central associations in the industry, REICHHART Logistik explicitly distances itself from defamatory and illegitimate protest actions. Alexander Reichhart clarifies: "We support the absolutely necessary active political discourse and officially authorized, peaceful protest actions - but not agitation, blind anger, hatred or fantasies of overthrow."

 

Please find the press release for download here.

Pressekontakt

Julia Lacher
Leitung Unternehmenskommunikation & Markenmanagement

Tel.: +49 (0)8105 38 36 284
presse@reichhart.eu