Pothole Potluck
Rail transport does tend to run cheaper, but loading and unloading costs are higher and it enjoys much less of the cherished flexibility. Air transport is likewise expensive, and requires considerable infrastructure. So like it or not, as costly as it may be relative to other countries with better infrastructure, road transport is here to say. Indeed, any discussion of logistics in Poland sooner or later leads to the question of the road system.
On the road
Nearly three-quarters of the nearly 1.3 billion tons of goods and services transported in Poland in 2002 were by road transport along Poland's 250,000 km of hard surface roads. Unfortunately, it is no secret that the road and highway system is in disrepair. Anyone taking a ride outside of Warsaw who feels that tinge of excitement while watching a heavy truck traveling in the opposite direction, bouncing along the uneven road surface at high speed as it passes two other trucks, its headlights in your eyes, knows that the Polish road system makes for some heavy wear and tear on the commercial vehicles that use it. While no statistics are available on how much more it costs, VOS's Katarzyna Nowakowska states with authority that this wear and tear on vehicles is tremendous. Tires, suspensions, not to mention the higher cost of fuel, all put pressure on margins and ultimately, the cost of goods and services. According to the EU, only 3 percent of Polish roads meet EU standards for maximum axle loads.
The long-titled memorandum
So, what about those roads? Is anything being done?
The answer is "Yes." Or perhaps, more accurately, something is being "planned" about it. The EU has an ambitious plan to modernize and harmonize transport infrastructure on a Union-wide basis, and improvement of the newly acceded EU members is an express priority.
In a memorandum prepared by the European Commission Directorate General for Energy and Transport, entitled Enlargement and European Union Transport Policy: Challenges and benefits for the new Member States in the field of transport (the case of Poland), the EU outlines the main objectives of its transport policy, as well as its challenges and benefits for Poland. Set forth in that document is an ambitious policy to improve transport safety and manage congestion.
The report lists the Trans-European Transport networks (TEN-T) and the GALILEO satellite radio navigation system (Europe's answer to the USA's global positioning satellite, or GPS), as key initiatives aiming at relieving congestion on European road systems. The TEN-T system has a Union-wide budget of EUR 400 billion, to be spent at an annual rate of e19 billion per year, financed from a combination of EU structural funds, European Investment Bank sources and other EU-based funding. The report estimates that Poland will receive anywhere from EUR 580 million to EUR 680 million per year from that budget for the years 2004-2006, all slated for transport improvement.
Actions speak louder then memorandums
The question is, will they do it? Leszek Pomorski, director of sales and marketing for ING Car Lease, which offers not just leasing but fleet management services, notes that Poles may not hold their breath while waiting for these plans to materialize. "They were talking about new roads and highway systems in the '70s, in the '80s and in the '90s, and there is nothing to show for it," he says. He also notes that Poland's plans to build 200km of new roadway per year sounds a bit unrealistic, when the best and most ambitious plans in other European countries show that 100km per year is already a very good result.
Indeed. The memorandum cited above notes that the EU has already funded EUR 1.7 billion for the improvement in Polish rails and roads since 1991. That sounds like a big sum, which could lead the reasonable person to wonder where it has been spent.
On the road
Nearly three-quarters of the nearly 1.3 billion tons of goods and services transported in Poland in 2002 were by road transport along Poland's 250,000 km of hard surface roads. Unfortunately, it is no secret that the road and highway system is in disrepair. Anyone taking a ride outside of Warsaw who feels that tinge of excitement while watching a heavy truck traveling in the opposite direction, bouncing along the uneven road surface at high speed as it passes two other trucks, its headlights in your eyes, knows that the Polish road system makes for some heavy wear and tear on the commercial vehicles that use it. While no statistics are available on how much more it costs, VOS's Katarzyna Nowakowska states with authority that this wear and tear on vehicles is tremendous. Tires, suspensions, not to mention the higher cost of fuel, all put pressure on margins and ultimately, the cost of goods and services. According to the EU, only 3 percent of Polish roads meet EU standards for maximum axle loads.
The long-titled memorandum
So, what about those roads? Is anything being done?
The answer is "Yes." Or perhaps, more accurately, something is being "planned" about it. The EU has an ambitious plan to modernize and harmonize transport infrastructure on a Union-wide basis, and improvement of the newly acceded EU members is an express priority.
In a memorandum prepared by the European Commission Directorate General for Energy and Transport, entitled Enlargement and European Union Transport Policy: Challenges and benefits for the new Member States in the field of transport (the case of Poland), the EU outlines the main objectives of its transport policy, as well as its challenges and benefits for Poland. Set forth in that document is an ambitious policy to improve transport safety and manage congestion.
The report lists the Trans-European Transport networks (TEN-T) and the GALILEO satellite radio navigation system (Europe's answer to the USA's global positioning satellite, or GPS), as key initiatives aiming at relieving congestion on European road systems. The TEN-T system has a Union-wide budget of EUR 400 billion, to be spent at an annual rate of e19 billion per year, financed from a combination of EU structural funds, European Investment Bank sources and other EU-based funding. The report estimates that Poland will receive anywhere from EUR 580 million to EUR 680 million per year from that budget for the years 2004-2006, all slated for transport improvement.
Actions speak louder then memorandums
The question is, will they do it? Leszek Pomorski, director of sales and marketing for ING Car Lease, which offers not just leasing but fleet management services, notes that Poles may not hold their breath while waiting for these plans to materialize. "They were talking about new roads and highway systems in the '70s, in the '80s and in the '90s, and there is nothing to show for it," he says. He also notes that Poland's plans to build 200km of new roadway per year sounds a bit unrealistic, when the best and most ambitious plans in other European countries show that 100km per year is already a very good result.
Indeed. The memorandum cited above notes that the EU has already funded EUR 1.7 billion for the improvement in Polish rails and roads since 1991. That sounds like a big sum, which could lead the reasonable person to wonder where it has been spent.
