Haulier deported from Germany for unauthorised transport of goods

A haulage contractor has called on the government to immediately draw up a temporary international road haulage agreement with the EU after the sixth Maltese driver in eight months was arrested by German authorities and deported.

The incident happened on Wednesday night after Maltese national Toplica Radosavljevic, from Fahrenheit Freight Forwarders Ltd., was stopped in Nuremberg, the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for the company, Hermann Mallia, said the arrest was made on the grounds that the driver had broken haulage regulations which some EU states have started to enforce with hauliers from a number of non-member countries.

The company called on the government to immediately intervene to safeguard Maltese interests in international road haulage by coming to bi-lateral agreements with the EU that would give Maltese hauliers certain priveleges.

In reply to the statement, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said the haulier was carrying out unauthorised transport of goods between two EU countries by carrying out an "intra-community" trip.

Under EU law, said the ministry, this type of trip can only be carried out by member states or countries which are members of the European Conference of Ministers for Transport (ECMT), which Malta had applied to join.

Mr Mallia explained that under these rules, a Maltese driver, truck and container must form an "unbroken chain": having deposited the merchandise for export, they must return to Malta with the container for import before making the next trip to the mainland with more merchandise.

Under the firm`s current practice, however, the driver and truck stay on the mainland doing more haulage work to and from Germany with containers deposited at the sea port of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.

Mr Mallia complained that the rules made it impossible for Maltese truckers to conduct such road haulage services in Europe. The trip schedule would be impossible to comply with and the cost of ferries would put them at a commercial disadvantage with German truckers, who were not constrained by such rules.

In Wednesday`s incident, the truck driver was arrested after making a trip up from Reggio Calabria. After being interrogated, he was informed that he was to be deported, Mr Mallia said.

He claimed this was the sixth deportation of a Maltese haulier from Germany in eight months.

He said that thanks to the intervention of the Maltese ambassador in Germany, the driver was told to leave Germany by not later than today instead of having to take the first flight out.

Fahrenheit Freight was fined a hefty s19,214, equivalent to Lm9,000, which had to be paid on demand for the release of the trailer.

At a meeting with transport ministry officials last Tuesday, the Association of Truck and Trailer Operations, which represents hauliers, expressed its concern about the matter.

The association has also highlighted the plight of haulage operators over problems such as the difficulty in getting insurance coverage, road user tax in Italy and VAT refunds in Germany.

Mr Mallia said the government had long procrastinated discussing any bilateral agreements with member states that would iron out these problems.

It is envisaged that most of these problems will be resolved once Malta joins the EU, but it is "socially and economically suicidal" to wait until accession, he said.

Today, Maltese drivers and operators do not benefit from a number of privileges that their counterparts, also from non-EU states, are entitled to, Mr Mallia argued.

He said that the government had started to handle some of these pending issues but not enough was being done.

"Given the peripherality and island status of Malta, if no such concessions are granted, it will definitely be the end for Maltese international hauliers," he warned, adding that Maltese industry would also face difficulties.

In its statement, the transport ministry said it had been doing its utmost to promote the international operations of Maltese hauliers.

It said Minister Censu Galea had recently been invited to attend the Annual Conference of European Transport Ministers in order to personally present Malta`s ECMT application for approval by the Council of Ministers.

"Ultimately with Malta`s eventual accession to the European Union, international Maltese hauliers would be allowed unlimited access to carry out transport services between EU states," the ministry said.

"As the association can confirm, unprecedented progress has been made in this sector under the current minister."