Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, Polish Confederation “Lewiatan” and Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic addressed with a position Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport, the Heads of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport and members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism about the problems faced by carriers following the introduction of additional COVID-19 controls by some countries.
Few days ago Germany added new countries to their high-risk Covid-19 list. It means that as of 14.02.2021 every truck driver entering Germany not only from the UK, Ireland or Portugal but also from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Tirol (Austria) needs to present a Covid-19 test. Immediately, that caused huge delays at German borders with Czech Republic and Austria. To be tested, thousands of truck drivers need wait many hours in long queues outside, in a freezing cold and snow. In some cases they need to pay for tests (about 50 € each).
The main TEN-T corridor from Northern Italy to Southern Germany has successfully been closed, since Austria decided to organize tests yet before its border with Italy, on Italian side. In order to enter Germany, drivers are obliged to show the test result no later than 48 hours prior to border crossing. That means that drivers regularly crossing those borders need to run the same tests every few days. As a result, truck drivers in the EU have become the most frequently Covid-19 tested profession all over the globe, despite the fact that positive tests results ratio among truck drivers is only about 0,2%!
You can read full position HERE.
