Stinnes AG concerned about German tax proposal

Schenker Logistics parent company Stinnes AG has expressed concern about a German tax policy which may include plans to introduce a toll for trucks, depending on the distance travelled.

According to Schednet.com, Wulf Bernotat, Stinnes’ chairman of the board of management, has strongly criticised the German government’s tax policy, saying that such solo initiatives would distort competition.

“Fortunately, these plans have not yet had any direct major impact on us as a logistics service provider because we operate only 15 per cent trucks of our own. Indirectly, however, we will of course be obliged to pass on the higher cost of transportation or make greater use of carriers from neighboring countries,” Bernotat was quoted as saying.

Stinnes claims that, overall, the additional cost incurred by a German forwarding agent through the implementation of all stages of the German eco-tax amounts to an average of US$6,000 per truck per year. And German carriers would be faced with a further escalation of costs if the flat-rate truck toll is introduced in 2003, as planned, and if there is no other tax relief for the German transportation industry.