IRU, the world road transport organisation, has published its 2024 annual report, highlighting key achievements in advancing safe, efficient and sustainable road transport during a challenging year.
Following member approval of the organisation’s 2024 financial accounts today at its General Assembly, the IRU annual report is now available online.
The report presents notable outcomes – in terms of advocacy, the TIR system, certification and standards, intelligence and events – globally and across seven strategic regions.
The central theme of this year’s report is resilience, as underlined by IRU President Radu Dinescu in his foreword, “Looking back on 2024, one word stands out: resilience. In a fast-changing world, our industry must continue to deliver safe, efficient and green mobility and logistics. This is our business and passion. But it is also a deep responsibility: people, communities and economies depend on us.
“Resilience is not just talk. For road transport, it means that millions of buses, coaches, taxis, trucks and vans run 24/7 in local and global networks that are robust and stable, but at the same time, agile and able to rapidly adapt to change.”
IRU’s 2024 milestones
Safe
- Certifying 31,836 transport professionals globally.
- Expanding the certification and standards platform to offer a fully digital service for governments with IRU Examiner.
- Helping secure EUR 320 million in EU funding for expanding and upgrading secure truck parking areas.
Efficient
- Opening five IRU-accredited TIR logistics hubs in major inland trade cities across China, consolidating all essential TIR and transit services under one roof.
- Enhancing cross-border TIR movements in Eurasia, establishing TIR Green Lanes and windows in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
- Increasing TIR volumes in the Gulf Cooperation Council region by 500%.
Green
- Addressing the UN General Assembly on critical actions to continue advancing the sustainability of road transport and its role in global development.
- Helping shape the EU’s CO2 emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, advocating for a technology-neutral and practical approach to decarbonisation.
- Outlining measures to make the Middle Corridor more sustainable to ministers and international representatives at COP29.
Closing the report, IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto reflects on the road ahead, “The only thing that is certain is that uncertainty is here to stay. The key to reinforcing the resilience of road transport is tackling our industry’s most critical issues – driver shortages, decarbonisation and digitalisation – in a sensible and pragmatic way.”