ECG — 2024-10-22
News from ECG
According to a Confidence & Cost Trends Survey conducted by ECG - the Association of European Vehicle Logistics, companies experience economic uncertainty in their confidence in future investments. 85% are willing to invest, but 43% of the responders need more confidence in future volumes. The automotive industry is teaming up for the upcoming ECG Conference 2024, “Powering the Future: Collaboration Moves Us Forward.”
Brussels, 22 October 2024
The automotive industry is concerned with the prognosis for European carmakers. They are experiencing strong headwinds from fierce competition in the face of high costs, fluctuating demand and extremely challenging legislative targets.
ECG has conducted the Confidence & Cost Trends Survey every quarter since 2010 among its members. Today, ECG represents the interests of over 200 member companies and partners.
According to the survey results from the third quarter of 2024, executives were willing (85%) to invest in means of transport that would decrease the logistics sector´s environmental footprint. That represents a significant increase from 42% in Q3 2020.
At the same time, factors that may limit investment opportunities are on the rise. The lack of confidence in projected volumes, driven by more intense and rapid market fluctuations, and the absence of long-term contracts are the most frequently mentioned reasons that hinder necessary investments into eco-friendly technologies.
Despite the strong willingness to invest there are doubts regarding the risks because of the uncertain economic times. In particular the automotive industry is affected by a phase of transformation and the need for decarbonization, facing stricter emission rules. Not only the cars have to be decarbonized, but there is also pressure to rapidly reduce emissions in supply chains.
Collaboration is crucial to navigate economic storms and reach set emission goals. ECG is the platform in the FVL industry that enables collaboration between all stakeholders to achieve common goals more efficiently and quickly.
The question is, what happens if we fail to collaborate? One consequence is clear: common goals, such as decarbonization, will not gain the necessary speed to achieve the challenging targets.
Wolfgang Göbel, president ECG:
“The industry is used to operate in a cyclical market environment. What we recognise now is a structural change to sustainable but reduced volumes in Europe in what has become an extremely challenging market for our customers. ‘Efficiencies first’ is now the focus and ECG is ready to support the industry with a growing ecosystem including: measurement and cost indications for transformation, technology evaluation and pilots, and enabling rail for a better comeback being some examples. Most importantly, ECG provides a platform to collaborate.”
The ECG Conference 2024, “Powering the Future: Collaboration Moves Us Forward,” is hosted in Hamburg, Germany, 24-25 October 2024.
Note to editors:
ECG is the established European platform for the outbound automotive logistics sector bringing together logistics service providers, manufacturer logistics managers and suppliers to the sector. ECG aims to facilitate non-commercial collaboration between member companies and assist them in sharing best practices in many operational areas, especially the harmonisation of operational standards.
For more information, please contact:
Frank Schnelle
Executive Director
ECG – The Association of European Vehicle Logistics
+32 2 706 82 80
info@ecgassociation.eu
www.ecgassociation.eu
About ECG
ECG - the Association of European Vehicle Logistics, has been the voice of the Finished Vehicle Logistics industry in Europe since 1997. ECG represents the interests of more than 200 member companies and partners, from family-owned SMEs to multi-nationals, and is the major champion of the European vehicle logistics sector.
ECG represents all transport models at EU level- road, rail, maritime and fluvial. ECG members provide transport, distribution, storage, preparation, and post-production services to manufacturers, importers, car rental companies, and vehicle leasing operators in the 27 Member States of the European Union as well as Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and beyond. They own or operate more than 470 car-carrying ships, 14,000 purpose-built railway wagons, 23 river barges, and 26,000 road transporters. As a major employer, the finished vehicle logistics sector plays an important role in contributing to the economic success of the European Union. Today, ECG members have an aggregate turnover of €21.3bn and their economic impact on companies associated with the sector is estimated at €56bn. More than 210,000 Europeans are employed directly by our members.