With decades of borderless roads connecting 26 countries throughout Europe, the reintroduced border controls set last September may herald an economic downturn for the transport industry on the continent.
Pressured by Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, the cause comes mainly from the various terror attacks, and the growth in anti-immigration movements.
Germany’s Bertelsmann Foundation states that a permanent return to strict border controls – resulting in hour long delays – may result in a loss of over 470-billion Euros of gross domestic product growth of the European economy over the next ten years.
EBM Papst’s chairman Rainer Hundsdoerfer – whose drivers make use of the A3 highway near the German border on a daily basis – notes that permanent controls would destroy the business model of German industry.
“Many companies obtain the products that they need for assembly here in Germany,” adds Hundsdoerfer.
“The quick loading and unloading of good ensures that the industry is constantly moving. Nothing in German industry – regardless of whether its automotive components, appliances, or ventilators – could exist without the extended workbenches in Eastern Europe”.
