All news & events

On 6 April, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air cargo markets showing that demand in February increased despite a challenging operating backdrop.

The European Commission has opened a public consultation on the initiative to ‘Put in place measures to better manage and coordinate international rail traffic, including if necessary through revised rules for capacity allocation and infrastructure charging in rail’. The public consultation will remain open until 22 June.

On 5 April, CLECAT Rail Logistics Institute met to discuss its position on ongoing policy initiatives at EU level, including the revision of the Combined Transport Directive, the RFC Regulation, and the TEN-T Guidelines, as well as to discuss contentious issues such as the quality issues in rail freight and how to resolve them.

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) published on 30 March a white paper on the required CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles to meet the EU climate targets set in the European Climate Law. The study notes that the current HDV CO2 standards require most new trucks to reduce their emissions by 15% in 2025, and 30% in 2030. However, growing levels of activity in the HDV sector offset the CO2 benefits from the standards, with emissions projected to grow by 8% by 2050 under the current adopted policies.

On 7 April, the European Commission published its Screening and Diagnostic Report of VAT Administration in the EU containing a series of recommendations to help Member States improve their VAT revenue collection, control procedures and processes.

On 5 April, MEPs formally approved the revised Directive on use of vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road. The new Directive will ease existing restrictions in place for the hiring of these vehicles from other EU countries.

On 6 April, the European Commission sent two recommendations for a Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in order to conclude road freight transport agreements between the EU and both countries. This initiative seeks to secure supply chains, including food security, following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine which has closed traditional transport routes.

Maritime analyst Sea Intelligence published on 30 March the latest issue of the Global Liner Performance report, with schedule reliability figures up to February 2022. The report shows that schedule reliability slightly improved by 4 percentage points on month-to-month basis reaching 34%, the first significant improvement since March 2021.

On 7 April, the European Commission adopted new EU standards and procedures to support the development of a network of safe and secure truck parking areas (SSTPAs) throughout the EU. The standard, which is based on four levels of security, a common level of service and certification procedures builds on the work of the 2019 Commission study on SSTPAs.

In light of Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, and the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine, the Council decided on 8 April to impose a fifth package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia. The package will prevent Russian vessels and trucks from accessing the EU, with exceptions made for oil, gas, food and medicines.