The Association of
European Vehicle Logistics has celebrated its 20th anniversary with an event
this week at the Autoworld museum in Brussels, attended among others by
European Commissioner for transport, Violeta Bulc.
Since March 1997,
the association has represented the common interests of vehicle logistics
companies at a European level both to regulators and lawmakers in Brussels, as
well as to the sector’s car and truck manufacturing customers.
Today, with 100
members, the association has become a significant voice for the vehicle
logistics industry, as well as a resource for training, standards and, soon,
forecasting.
ECG president
Wolfgang Göbel noted that from the beginning, ECG was represented by a mix of
trucking, rail and shipping companies, making it a rare of example of a
multimodal lobby group among Europe’s transport associations.
The association,
originally named the European Car-Transport Group of Interest, began with
around 30 members, most of which, Göbel noted, are still operating in the
sector (including Mosolf Group, for which Göbel himself works). At 100,
membership is at record levels for ECG and has recovered ignificantly since
dropping to the low 80s after the 2008 financial crisis.
Today, with the European
automotive industry at healthy levels, Göbel pointed to an association and an
industry developing positively. He noted that collaboration and dialogue with
executives from carmakers was again strong, including for working groups
focused on areas such as quality, and using in-vehicle telematics for tracking
and tracing vehicles.
“Our communication
with the OEMs has risen and fallen at times over the past 20 years, but today
it is highly active,” he said.
Göbel also said
that ECG was focused on the impact of digitalisation in the sector, including
ways in which logistics providers could better use data to predict and control
their operations.
For the first time,
the association’s board has agreed to invest in a standard forecasting tool.
“This will be done with ECG’s own funds, and will help create a standard that
can be used across the sector to improve data analysis and forecasting,” he
said.