New road tolls introduced by the Belgian government from 1 April 2016 are hitting road freight hauliers and look set to trigger an industry-wide rise in transport costs.
Customers also face delivery delays as protests and strike action against the charges have blocked Belgium border crossings and caused service disruption.
The extra tax has been introduced on selected motorways in Belgium and affects both inbound and outbound freight, as well as cargo bound for the rest of Europe. The new kilometre charge will be based on the actual use of a truck, with variable road tariffs ranging from around €0.07/kilometre to almost €0.30/kilometre as charges are also set according to the type of road, the gross vehicle weight (GVW) and the Euro emission class. The new truck tolls affect heavy goods vehicles of more than 3.5 tons gross vehicle weight.
Palletways, our affiliate network for pallet distribution with more than 300 European hubs, has calculated the cost increase and will be passing this on from today (18 April 2016) in the form of a surcharge based on a percentage of the overall rate. The surcharges will mean that:
- rates to or from Belgium will rise by an average of 3%
- rates for consignments passing through Belgium will rise on average by 1%.
Many pan-European routes will be affected but the tax will apply equally to all transport businesses. Full information on the new tolls is available at: http://www.viapass.be/en/.
At IFL, we will, of course, try to keep surcharges to a minimum and our rates competitive. You can read more about our daily Benelux service here and please get in touch if you have any queries.
Image: (CC) Kai Hendry/Flickr
