Crisis in Italy’s logistics industry because of increased costs and longer delivery times due to coronavirus
1.9.2021
Question for written answer E-004027/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Mara Bizzotto (ID)
With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the logistics system in Italy, Europe and around the world quickly became overloaded, what with urgent deliveries of materials for the health crisis, the explosion in e-commerce and increased costs for raw materials and logistics services.
Umberto Ruggerone, President of Assologistica, which represents more than 250 firms and 70 000 workers, said that, ‘the increase in freight rates, in prices for the transport of containers, is frightening, containers can’t be found, the repercussions on logistics costs are huge’. What is more, the increase in raw materials costs is reverberating through the entire supply chain.
The closure of Chinese ports has placed global logistics under yet more strain: the port of Ningbo has been at a standstill for weeks because of just one case of COVID-19 among port workers.
Italian road hauliers already suffer from a competitiveness deficit and the current crisis in global logistics is just exacerbating this. On average, transporting HGV freight costs them EUR 1.12 per kilometre; this is more than the average cost for French and German hauliers and double the cost of road haulage in Latvia and Romania.
In light of the above:
- 1.What urgent measures will the Commission take to help Italy’s logistics industry?
- 2.How will it resolve the problem of disparities in competition within the single market?