October 2018 – Increasing of toll 2019
Since July 2018, the toll road network in Germany applies to all federal highways. Because of the tripling of the scope, the largest interconnected toll road network in the world has been created. This alone has already caused a 2% increase in transport costs this summer.
At the same time, based on the current road report, the Federal Government has decided to increase the currently valid toll rates by around 40% from January 2019. In the cheapest emissions category EURO-NORM 6, this means an increase from currently 13.5 cents to 18.7 cents per toll kilometre.
Therefore, the burden of the toll will nearly double. In other words, for a 40-ton basic combination, this means an overall increase in costs of 4.5 to 7 percent.
Official figures speak of 2.5 billion euros in annual additional income due to the new toll rates. This might be great news for the state but for Germany as a business location it is an additional burden. The bottom line is that the transport costs of all supply chains will increase, and this state-imposed tax will eventually have to be paid by the consumer.
Unfortunately, the development of fuel costs over the last few months is also a big matter of expense to be considered. Since the beginning of 2018, the average pump price for a litre of diesel has risen by more than 11.5% from around EUR 1.21 to around EUR 1.35 in September – and the trend is still rising. Therefore, the transport costs have increased by an additional 3.5%, taking the fuel cost share of a standard truck with 30% into consideration.
As a precautionary measure, we publish this information so these factors are already considered in our planning for 2019 as well as for ongoing projects that must be completed over the course of the year.
Further information and details on the mandatory price adjustments, which come into effect from January 2019, will follow shortly.