LojiDer Board Chairman Dr. Kayıhan Özdemir Turan stated that the visa barrier imposed by EU countries on Turkish truck drivers is against the spirit of free trade, and said that they will start a new legal struggle in Europe. Visa lawsuits are planned to be filed in various EU countries, especially Germany, where the biggest problems are experienced regarding visas.

Necmi ÇELİK

Lojistik Servis Ürünlerçılar Derneği-LojiDer Board Chairman Dr. Kayıhan Özdemir Turan, established as a new civil society organization in the logistics sector, stated that the visa barrier imposed by EU countries on Turkish truck drivers is against the spirit of free trade, and said that they will start a new legal struggle in Europe.

Visa lawsuits are planned to be filed in EU countries, especially Germany, where the biggest problems are experienced regarding visas. It was learned that meetings are ongoing with expert law firms and renowned lawyers in this field.

Dr. Kayıhan Ö. Turan, who stated that they held high-level meetings with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Trade in Ankara in July and August on the problems of the sector and new approaches, drew attention to the fact that the negative impact of the crisis experienced in driver visas on the sector is increasing day by day and said, “We are working to take the issue to the European courts.” Turan said the following: “As LojiDer, we are evaluating this issue from the perspective of preventing free trade within the framework of the criteria determined by the World Trade Organization.

In addition, we see that the process of handling and evaluating driver visas in the same way as normal tourist visas is completely contrary to the European Union norms, where law is based. The investment cost of our companies that invest in 1 set of “tractors and semi-trailers” in the logistics sector is currently around 7-8 million TL. The total investment cost of our member who invested in a fleet of 10 sets reaches high amounts such as 70-80 million TL. While this investment should add value to the country’s economy and exports, it is unacceptable for it to remain idle due to the inability to obtain visas for drivers.”

Turan stated that visas not granted to drivers of international transportation vehicles are the biggest obstacle to free trade and said, “As LojiDer, we are conducting detailed work to initiate a legal court process in Europe in this direction. Based on the thesis that the visa issue has reached a stage that is against the spirit of free trade, we are also meeting with expert lawyers in Europe on how to find a solution to the visa obstacle. The issue is not to go to court, we want to obtain favorable decisions and bring a result that will set a precedent for all EU countries on this issue.”

Companies with large vehicle fleets are affected
Emphasizing that another important problem of the sector is the cancellation of the rights of logistics companies with large vehicle fleets to have fuel pump stations in their own garages, Turan expressed the following views;

“I would like to share with you a Statutory Decree decision that negatively affected our members who carry out national and international road transportation last month. We have member companies with 10, 50, 150, 300, 500, 800 vehicles in their fleets.

These members of ours have invested in fuel pump stations in their garages within the scope of the rights granted to them in the past, only to be used for their own vehicles, and by purchasing fuel in bulk to fuel only their own vehicles, they have had the opportunity to improve fuel costs, which constitute a high percentage of transportation service cost items. The rights of our members were canceled with an amendment made in July with a Statutory Decree in the seventh paragraph of Article 9 of the Petroleum Market Law No. 5015. However, we could not fully understand the reason for this. Our association's member companies and sector companies will support every step that our state wants to take under the name of "supervision".

However, a few bad examples and actions should not cause our companies that do their job right, create employment by investing and have negative effects. Our work continues to review this decision, which will be implemented on January 1, 2025. We hope that the work we will do will yield positive results and we will create a solution that meets the expectations of all stakeholders in this regard together.

Authorization documents and unfair competition environment

Dr. Kayıhan Ö. Turan, who stated that another issue that has been talked about in the sector for many years is the unfair competition environment, said regarding the issue of authorization documents, “We operate in an ecosystem where logistics services are provided with authorization documents obtained at high prices. However, since the inspection is not at the desired level, activities carried out without documents still cannot be prevented. As a result, our certified companies are trying to continue their business in an unfair competition environment.”

Stating that another issue that has been discussed in the sector for many years is the unfair competition environment, Dr. Kayıhan Ö. Turan said the following regarding the authorization documents: “We operate in an ecosystem where logistics services are provided with authorization documents obtained at high prices. However, since the inspection is not at the desired level, activities carried out without documents cannot be prevented. As a result, our documented companies are trying to continue their business in an unfair competition environment."