Productive Workshop in Jabbeke

On Tuesday, February 6th, ESPORG organized a workshop for stakeholders and members in Jabbeke about several crucial topics for the industry.

Two topics were focal points for the workshop: i) safe and Secure Truck Parking in the European Landscape and ii) recommendations for the future about sustainability, wellbeing, migrants, connectivity and crime.

Rob de Leeuw van Weenen (Panteia) presents at the ESPORG workshop in Jabbeke.

For the first theme, speakers included Luca Tassoni from DG Move, who explained the EU legislation on safe and secure parking areas, Giacomo Somma from CINEA, who discussed Connecting Europe Facility funding, especially concerning transport and the application, evaluation and award process, Rob de Leeuw van Weenen from Panteia, who discussed the European Commission study that was launched in January of this year concerning safe and secure truck parking. Objectives for this study include

To assess the current status, availability and suitability of rest facilities for professionaldrivers in the EU and identify the demand-supply gap and deficiencies in the provision ofrest facilities, also taking into account gender equality issues;
To evaluate the availability and adequacy of secure parking facilities for professionaldrivers across the EU, considering gender equality, and analyze their potential for an upgrade following certification under the EU standards set out in the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1012;
To investigate the development and implementation of safe and secure parking areas certified in accordance with the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1012
To analyze the demand-supply gaps in terms of the needs for safe and secure parking areas and map the desired locations of new parking areas across the EU, in particular on the TEN-T road network;
To identify measures and recommend strategies to address the identified gaps and deficient and increase the number and quality of rest facilities and safe and secure parking areas for professional drivers.

Godfried Smit from ESC offers his comments as a participants in the workshop in Jabbeke.

The second half of the workshop focused on several topics regarding the future of safe and secure truck parking. Speakers included Rino Defoor from the Office of the Governor of Wester Flanders who offered solutions to human trafficking and crime in transport; Sélène Aernout from UniTrans who dived more deeply into the tech behind the Mac Address Scanners showcased at the inaugural event in Jabbeke as well as more broadly into connectivity for SSTPAs; William Rigg from BP and Dirk Penasse from ESPORG, who discussed sustainability and the practical future of electrical truck charging at a parking site; and Christy Ha from ESPORG, who presented and promoted the topic of wellbeing in the logistics industry.