The German air freight industry sees the Federal Republic's logistics sector burdened by significant shortcomings in the area of so-called road feeder services (RFS). At a specialist forum of the industry association Aircargo Club Germany (ACD) in Frankfurt am Main, logistics companies and freight forwarders pointed to growing operational hurdles that are hindering the handling of time-critical freight flows.
Since a large portion of freight transport between European airports is handled by truck under flight numbers due to a lack of profitable short-haul flights, inefficiencies in the road sector directly impact supply chains in international air transport. The industry network identified inadequate digitalization of government agencies, the acute shortage of personnel in the driving sector, and regulatory barriers to fleet conversion as primary problem areas.
A key criticism from logistics experts concerns the low level of digitalization at the interfaces between airports, customs authorities, and transport companies. So-called media breaks and the continued reliance on paper-based documentation processes lead to processing delays at cargo terminals in daily operations. Since speed is the primary product characteristic in the air freight sector, the administrative bottlenecks on the ground negate the time advantage of the actual air transport. Christopher Stoller, President of the Air Cargo Club Germany, emphasized in this context that the entire transport chain is unnecessarily burdened by bureaucratic regulations, which weakens the competitiveness of German airports compared to rival European hubs.
The situation is exacerbated by the ongoing driver shortage in road freight transport, which makes the reliable deployment of transport capacity difficult. Furthermore, companies are encountering significant obstacles in the politically desired shift to battery-electric commercial vehicles in international long-distance transport. The main barriers are the high purchase costs of electric trucks and an inadequate charging infrastructure along transport routes and at freight depots. As long as a comprehensive power supply for heavy goods vehicles is not guaranteed, such investments are not economically viable for freight forwarders. Therefore, as a short-term, practical interim solution, association members like Christine Reischl are calling for increased registration of longer trucks to increase transport volume per trip and alleviate staffing shortages.
Industry analysts view the association's demands as a reaction to the looming migration of freight flows to international logistics hubs outside Germany. Rising government-imposed location costs and infrastructure deficiencies are already leading freight forwarders to increasingly handle goods via neighboring European airports. In addition to technical and personnel investments, the industry therefore sees policymakers as primarily responsible for improving the framework for road transport through uniform European regulations and the reduction of bureaucratic hurdles for alternative drive systems.