Transport remains unchanged in "light lockdown"

Since the end of May, Geotab and Webfleet Solutions have been analyzing data from over three million connected vehicles in their joint project "Commercial Mobility Recovery Dashboard" to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on commercial vehicle activities. According to Geotab and Webfleet Solutions, the commercial transport volume in Germany has hardly been affected by the measures since early November. Figures from November 20th show that activity on German roads was at an average of 102 percent, slightly above pre-crisis levels. Similar figures apply for October. In contrast, declining trends were observed during the lockdown measures in the spring.

The aim of the "Commercial Mobility Recovery Dashboard" is, according to the two companies, primarily to gain an overview of the recovery of commercial fleet activity and support strategic recovery measures. The figures are updated weekly for this purpose.

“The latest data from our dashboard is encouraging and shows how commercial fleets are successfully navigating through this challenging time and adapting their operations to the new conditions. Although we do not yet know what the future holds, it is clear that fleets which adapt their processes and utilize data-driven insights to optimize workflows and increase efficiency will be better equipped to not only meet rising demands but also emerge stronger from the crisis,” said Wolfgang Schmid, Sales Director at Webfleet Solutions.

From Klaus Böckers' perspective, Vice President Nordics, Central and Eastern Europe at Geotab, road freight transport is a barometer for the overall economic situation. He is optimistic that the current measures have not led to such drastic declines as in the spring. At that time, the figures collected from the dashboard for individual European countries sometimes varied significantly. For Germany, smaller declines were detected in the spring compared to neighboring countries.

Now, in the fall, Italy is at a similar activity level to Germany. With a value of 90 percent, figures in France are also better than in previous months, although pre-crisis levels have not been reached. Similar observations can be made for the United Kingdom, where the level following drastic declines in the spring was 85 percent for November.

From this, Klaus Böckers concludes: “Even under unfavorable conditions, the logistics industry is capable of ensuring the supply of goods to the population. At Geotab, we help with our telematics solutions to ensure that traffic flows as efficiently as possible. With the help of telematics, routes can be optimized and driver safety can be better ensured, leading to more effective logistical processes.”

Fiona Nitschke