Spanish exporters are up in arms about new German road tolls for lorries that came into force on January 1. The tolls are payable by lorries using German trunk roads. Calculations for the toll are complicated but will vary from €0.9-0.14 per kilometre depending on the type of vehicle and cargo for all lorries over 12 tonnes. The annual cost to trucks in Valencia is estimated by trade representatives in the eastern Spanish region to reach €1,400.

Trucks must either install GPS equipment to enable details of their journey to go directly to the German authorities, pay over the internet or directly at toll booths on the roads. The Spanish freight transport representatives complain that as there are no workshops equipped to fit GPS in Spain, hauliers will have to travel to France to have the system fitted, or suffer delays to their journeys queueing at toll booths on the road, or having to use the internet which does not feature Spanish among the four languages on the relevant website.

President of Spanish grower representative organisation Ava-Asaja Cristóbal Aguado said: “Us farmers and growers - who are not going through our best times - will be helping Germany out of its crisis.”

He calculates that about 1 million tonnes of citrus from Valencia will be affected by the new tolls and will cost Valencia’s fruit and vegetable sector about €15 million a year. Germany is the biggest market in the EU for Spanish citrus taking more than 800,000t a year. Sendings to Poland (250,000t annually) Denmark (40,000t) and the Czech Republic (73,000t) will also be subject to the toll as they have to transit through Germany.

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