Missing lorry parking, dying SMEs – Timm Trede on the state of German logistics

Germany leads a European ranking that no country wants to top. According to a study by Panteia and ESPORG (January 2025), Germany — alongside the Benelux countries — has the largest lorry parking deficit in the EU. 'Tens of thousands of lorry parking spaces are missing,' says Timm Trede, Managing Director of express logistics provider zipmend.

Across the EU, roughly 390,000 parking spaces are missing, and Germany is among the countries with the greatest need. There is a peculiarly German problem on top: by law, motorway rest areas must be open to all, so lorries compete with cars and coaches for the same spaces. The Netherlands take a different approach — there, parking is planned along entire corridors by a single authority, with provinces, the ministry and ports all at the same table. The issue is not funding, the analysis states, but planning and procurement.

For Trede, the foundations of logistics are eroding from two sides. The first is concrete and asphalt. In the World Economic Forum's road quality ranking, Germany sits in eleventh place — the Netherlands, with comparable traffic density, rank first. 'I would give Germany's road network a 3 out of 10,' says Trede.

The second side is market structure. With 12.7 insolvencies per 10,000 companies, the transport sector leads the insolvency statistics from Germany's Federal Statistical Office — more than double the rate for the economy as a whole. Many small hauliers have given up, while a handful of large operators have consolidated their position, says Trede. The EU Mobility Package has meant above all one thing: more bureaucracy, more documentation, more compliance. The small operators cannot shoulder that. 'I believe that was the intention,' he says. 'Fewer large players are easier to control.'

Both problems are home-grown, says Trede, both are moving slowly, and both have stayed far too quiet. 'I wonder,' says Trede, 'what it will take before we finally act.'

Press contact:

Timm Trede
press@zipmend.com