Speeches: Vladimir Starosta, CESMAD BOHEMIA President, Czech Republic

7th IRU East-West Road Transport Conference Budapest, 15-16 May 2003 Budapest Congress Centre (BCC), Alkotas u. 63-67 - 1123 Budapest, Hungary

Panel 2: Passenger and Goods Transport Growth 2015

Vladimir Starosta
CESMAD BOHEMIA President, Czech Republic

Ladies and gentlemen honourable delegates and guests.

We have gathered here in Budapest at the 7^th Conference of the International Road Transport Union to discuss the subject of East-West Road Transport and are certainly aware that this conference will become an historical landmark for road hauliers who are active in the EU and those who are from today's candidate countries. Each of our future conferences will most certainly take place in a very different European environment, i.e. in an enlarged EU environment with the addition of today's candidate countries. I personally am very happy that the Czech Republic is among these future states.

It is my belief that one of the most debated questions among EU hauliers and those from the candidate countries concerns a certain anxiety and uncertainty with respect to these new conditions. To put it simply, we are all indeed wondering whether we too will have a place in the enlarged EU, whether we will continue to be prosperous and achieve prosperity in the new environment and we would all like to prepare ourselves as best we can with these aims in mind. I believe we are all of the same opinion that EU enlargement by ten new states will mean for both groups of road hauliers unexpected business opportunities on the one hand but on the other a certain threat to our own business venture in our area of road transport.

The danger, which both groups of road hauliers probably find the most sensitive, is the process of deregulating market access in the area of carriage by road. Deregulation will of necessity trigger greater competitive pressure. We all know that a greater competitive pressure will certainly mean an increased battle for business in the enlarged EU. Fortunately it is not a question here of quantity and type of weaponry but the quality of our staff and our competitive tender. The area of road transport today is not only very competitive in the EU but also in the candidate countries, and so the new conditions will possibly mean an acceptable competitive state of affairs. However, it is probably to be expected that transport companies which are not in a position to offer a quality service and quality personnel will leave the market - but that is the nature of free competition. With fair competition and integrity under the same conditions customers can choose of their own volition a quality service and the best offer. The liberalisation process however brings with it significant opportunities which allow the lifting of entry approvals, which at present form a significant, purely administrative and bureaucratic restriction and removal of frontiers, without having any obligation to the market. It is also justified to expect a significant departure from the reciprocal exchange of goods. Frontier removal itself will allow much more effective transportation between both territories.

Today's long and excessive waiting times at the border will be a thing of the past triggering a greater volume of traffic which should find new demand precisely because of the increased exchange of commodities. At the same time, besides these 'technical' changes, a new historic dimension emerges as an important opportunity for hauliers from the individual states to work together, to gain a wealth of new experience and new markets on the one hand and on the other hand to meet customer pressure and market needs.

Mutual co-operation is particularly advantageous for the smaller and medium-sized companies because this means greater capacity and broader scope for quotation. The road hauliers in the enlarged Europe should of course not forget markets outside the EU and should under no circumstances leave these markets. The Czech hauliers are well orientated towards the Eastern markets and are also familiar with the environment and this is where there is also the opportunity for further co-operation with the Western European partners. For this reason our association CESMAD BOHEMIA supports its own representative agent in Moscow and wishes to offer the services and advantages which this brings also to companies outside the Czech Republic.

Another phenomenon we are very sensitive to concerns parity in competitive conditions, i.e. fair competition. This problem should not be narrowed down to the relatively lower wages of drivers from the candidate countries compared to the drivers from today's Member States. Incidentally these differences are being very rapidly dispelled. The wages of drivers are only a part of the total costs, which the haulier incurs.

Within the framework of harmonising conditions within the EU, we are anticipating measures, which in the interest of unification will settle financial issues and competitive conditions. The total financial burden of the Czech hauliers exceeds very greatly the average of other transport hauliers in the EU, but is not as high as Germany or Britain, but is higher than Greece, Spain or Portugal.

Diagram showing road taxation

40t (17 + 23)

Access to enterprise in the Czech Republic is today completely in accord with 'aquis communitaire' and competition will be realised through the usual market resources. Individual hauliers usually prepare themselves for joining the EU by extensively renovating their truck fleet, mainly in international road transport (300o new EURO 3 vehicles for the year 2002). Staff training including language training becomes all the more important, and the infrastructure of individual firms is developed, including increased environmental protection. Furthermore, we must be prepared for the fact that there will be more marked supervision of compliance with current regulations.

Specialised control units have been working for a few months now in the Czech Republic, carrying out direct checks on traffic on the roads to ensure compliance with certain agreements such as AETR, ADR, ATP etc. At the same time, after entry to the EU, these checks will replace the checks carried out today at the border crossings.

In the past decade, the Czech Republic has received a lot of investment and many world organisations have built new businesses here. There could probably be even more investment if the road infrastructure in our country were of better quality. Today we get transport contracts from our customers which require a continuous flow of goods, and the time for separate transportation becomes even shorter. Even unfinished Autobahn connections between the Czech Republic and Austria, between the Czech Republic and Germany and between the Czech Republic and Poland pose an obstacle, which needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Unfortunately many Czech towns which lie along international routes do not have bypasses either, which not only adversely affects environmental protection in these towns, thereby also diminishing the quality of life of the inhabitants, but in addition lengthens the transport process and erodes cost-effectiveness. I agree with the view that the quality of road infrastructure has a direct proportional influence on the standard of living in a particular area. To put it simply, no investor will build their business where there are no roads, and unemployment for instance will not go down in this locality.

It can be said with certainty that even after EU enlargement, we will encounter not only on IRU soil but also on the soil of our national associations, the international efforts of the European governments, which often have a tendency to penalise road transport in order to fulfil the state budget to the disadvantage of hauliers, and above all of the end user. The introduction of high tariffs for using communication networks is unfortunately at the present time one such example. The tariffs are becoming increasingly higher, but the increased sums levied are often lost in the state budgets.

It should, therefore, be our priority to influence the institutions of the EU and individual governments so as to avoid thoughtless penalisation and so that, on the contrary, measures are taken (taxation, social and technological) which would not adversely affect the hauliers, but be of assistance to them.

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