Press releases

CLECAT, will be leading a panel debate at Intermodal Europe 2012 in Amsterdam on the 27th of November. Nicolette van der Jagt, Director General of CLECAT will be moderating the panel in a conference session titled 'Logistics Partnering in Practice: Challenges facing the dynamic freight forwarding industry'. The panel will bring together a distinguished panel of experts in the freight transport industry who will discuss the development of intelligent cargo to improve efficiency and sustainability and the management of complex supply chains through intelligent IT systems. They will give some insight on their expectations with regard to innovation and market trends and how all of these might affect operations in the future.

Members of the European Parliament heard yesterday practical evidence of how use of the European Modular System (EMS) truck combinations can improve the efficiency of combined transport and further contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. During the lunchtime debate hosted by Belgian liberal MEP Philippe De Backer, key industry speakers presented first results of some of the EMS trials in combined transport both in Germany and the Netherlands where successful EMS combined transport has been ongoing for a number of years.

CLECAT has taken note of the opinion of the European Court Justice Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen on pending cases against Germany, Austria, Spain, Hungary and Portugal for failure to correctly implement various parts of the First Railway Package.Nicolette van der Jagt, Director General, said: "The opinion of the Advocate General shows again the importance to advance the discussions on the 4th Railway Package and confirms in our opinion the need for the Commission to create a clearer legal framework against which liberalisation can take place."

CLECAT, the European Association for forwarding, transport, logistic and Customs services, is to hold its 12th annual event on Thursday 29th November in Brussels.  Under the theme “Balancing facilitation and security in Global Supply Chains”, the Forum will debate a number of important developments in supply chain security that require changes in business practices from all involved parties in the supply chain.

The EMS Forum welcomes clarity on the cross-border use of EMS and strongly supports the European Commission in its respect of the original intentions of the legislator. The EMS Forum is responding to a letter by European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, to the President of the European Commission, and supporting the current legal interpretation of EU Directive 96/53 on the weights and dimensions of commercial vehicles, which now permits cross-border trials of EMS within the EU.

CLECAT has welcomed the European Commission's clear statement on the EU transit procedure which offers a wide range of options to its users and leaves them the choice of how a guarantee is provided to customs. The Commission has no intention to respond to a call from the road industry to turn the clock back by allowing TIR carnets for EU internal transport.

  In the interests of a closer communication with members, other industry partners and policy makers over the development of policies on the range of issues covered by its members, CLECAT launched its new website today: www.clecat.org  

CLECAT welcomes the recent clarification of the European Commission on the cross-border journeys of the European Modular System (EMS). In a recent letter from Vice-President Siim Kallas to the Chairman of the Transport and Tourism Committee of the European Parliament certain points of the Directive 96/53/EC on weights and dimensions in road transport were clarified. The Commission has confirmed that the cross-border movements of EMS combinations between consenting Member States which allow their use on their national territory is allowed and in line with the spirit of subsidiarity.

Transport for London (TfL) will hold European Freight advice workshops for London 2012 in Paris, Lille and Holland, with the intention of ensuring freight and servicing companies are aware of the possibility of impacts to their operations and to help them understand how to plan for this to maintain as far as possible ‘business as usual’.

CLECAT regrets that the EU has not taken the views of the European business and industry into account in a time of economic difficulty and has not responded to the joint industry call to postpone the strict sulphur limits to allow investments in mass production of low sulphur fuel and development of cost-efficient abatement technologies.