The Association had the pleasure to commemorate this momentous anniversary along with over 250 of its members, supporters and industry friends at a special event in the Autoworld Museum in Brussels on 21st March. Keynote speakers included European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, and Erik Jonnaert, Secretary General of ACEA.

Acknowledging the importance of the Association Commissioner Bulc urged ECG and its members to be the drivers of change and to let their voices be heard at national level, in particular on the issue of e-documents. She called for the creation of a digital platform to underpin the transport industry declaring that she wished “to see a seamless deployment of digital e-tolling systems”. ECG is a longstanding supporter of digital documents and most recently published a joint statement with IRU on e-CMR (electronic consignment note) especially targeted at gaining acceptance for it in Germany.

Speaking at the event ECG President Wolfgang Göbel announced that its membership has reached the milestone number of 100 member companies. The latest member of the Association of European Vehicle Logistics, MOSTVA, a Polish transport company, is already the fourth new member to join ECG in 2017. This steady climb in membership numbers and indeed strong support from the membership in general allows the finished vehicle logistics sector to effectively speak with one voice.

Established as a non-profit making organisation in 1997 to promote the interests of the car carrier operators, ECG is now the established platform for the automotive logistics sector bringing together logistics service providers, manufacturer logistics managers and suppliers to the sector. Today ECG members have an aggregate direct turnover of around 27.1 billion euros. More than 116,000 Europeans are employed directly by the vehicle logistics industry and an additional 294.239 are indirectly employed in the sector. They own or operate 508 car-carrying ships, 16,000 purposebuilt railway wagons, 25 river barges and 22,134 specialist road transporters.

Vira Maritime