COPY LINK

JOBS

Could Germany see a fuel supply crisis like the UK?

Petrol stations have been running dry in the UK due to a supply crisis fuelled by too few truck drivers. As Germany has a worker shortage, could this happen here too?

Published: 4 October 2021 10:09 CEST

An empty petrol station in Ferring, the UK, on October 1st. The UK has been battling a fuel shortage due to a lack of tank drivers. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/PA Wire | Michael Drummond

Fears of shortages have led to panic buying at petrol stations across the UK, with retailers running out of supplies.

It’s not down to a worldwide petrol crisis – instead it’s about a lack of truck drivers which mean many petrol stations are not getting supplies through quick enough.

Part of the reason is Brexit which saw many European drivers return to their home countries, or move somewhere else. It’s also said to be down to the pandemic and older drivers retiring.

It’s hard to imagine a situation like this in Germany. However, industry experts say it’s not out of the question.

“It can happen in Germany, too,” Jürgen Ziegner, Managing Director of the Central Association of the Tank Industry, told regional newspaper RP Online last week.

“If nothing changes, we will have this situation here in four or five years.”

According to Ziegner, there could be supply bottlenecks in Germany, and petrol stations could run out of supplies – because there are too few truck drivers.

“We have a shortage of between 60,000 and 80,000 lorry drivers,” said Martin Bulheller of the Federal Association of Road Haulage, Logistics and Disposal (BGL).

This is a problem across Europe and the world, because the industry is lacking new employees.

According to Bullheller, the lack of lorry drivers is already leading to trucks standing idle in the yards of haulage companies in Germany. It’s not because there are no goods, but there are no drivers to deliver the goods.

Every year about 30,000 truck drivers retire, and just 15,000 new drivers are taken on. So the crisis, which is already evident, will get bigger if no countermeasures are taken, Bulheller said.

What are the reasons for this?

Last week the Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz commented on the fuel and supply crisis in the UK after he was asked by a journalist if he would be prepared to send German lorry drivers to fill vacancies.

Scholz gave a calm and confident response highlighting the benefits of being part of the EU and having freedom of movement, which the UK chose to leave.

He also added that the UK’s lack of drivers “might have something to do with the question of wages”.

So where does Germany stand on wages?

The BGL’s Bullheller believes the salary for truck drivers in Germany will get better because of the shortage of drivers, and to some extent this has already happened.

“The market economy works here,” he said. Truck drivers in Germany earn about €1,400 to €3,300 gross per month, depending on the tariff area and professional qualifications.

According to the collective bargaining register of North Rhine-Westphalia, drivers in the forwarding, logistics and transport industry earn €13.54 an hour, so with a 40-hour week they get a monthly wage of about €2,166.

The question is whether the pay is enough to combat the shortage.

But there is another big factor – working conditions “are not the best,” said Bulheller.

Truck drivers are often on the road for days at a time apart from their families.

The question is whether the pay is enough to combat the shortage.

Regardless, petrol station representative Ziegner says Germany needs to take action.

“Something has to be done about the driver shortage. But what needs to be done, I can’t tell you,” he said.

The BGL association published a five-point plan. In it, it calls on the new federal government to stipulate certain measures in a coalition agreement. The profession should be classified as system-relevant, and improved trucks that are more comfortable for drivers should be approved.

Other demands include improved recognition of qualifications from abroad.

More than 20 percent of truck drivers in Germany are now people from abroad, the BGL says.

“If we didn’t have foreign truck drivers, we would already have a big problem,” said Bullheller.

Bullheller also sees the consumer behaviour of Germans as a reason why the driver shortage will continue to worsen: more people are ordering goods online which have to be delivered – but there are a decreasing amount of delivery drivers.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

When it comes to settling in Germany, one of the most stressful and difficult tasks you’re likely to face is finding a place to live.

With the country in the grip of an ever-worsening housing shortage, there aren’t enough rental properties to meet the high demand – especially in big cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt – and the flats that are available can often stretch even the most healthy of budgets.

With renters desperate to find affordable homes, crafty scammers have seized the chance to place fake ads on the market, often in dream locations with lower-than-average rents.

While some of these scams may be easy to spot, others can be highly sophisticated, with fraudsters setting up professional-looking websites and even allowing hopeful tenants to view their properties in person.

Recently The Local reported on a Polish couple who lost around €7,000 through a rental scam in Berlin. The scammers had sublet a beautiful Altbau apartment in the popular district of Neukölln and created an advert for it via a fake letting agent website, then arranged for people to use a key box to view the property while the real tenants were away.

Despite checking the contract over with legal experts from their local tenants’ association, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary – that is, until they tried to access the apartment and found a family already living there.

So, how do you protect your hard-earned savings and steer clear of scammers while looking for a new home?

Here are 10 important ways to protect yourself from rental scams.

1. Be alert to suspicious signs

The key to avoiding scammers in Germany is to be fully clued up on the warning signs. Was the listing for the property uploaded in the middle of the night, is the advert thin on details or written in bad German or English, and does the offer feel too good to be true?

Though it would be nice to believe there are still cheap flats to be found, finding an attractive property at an overly reasonable price is usually a red flag.

Hamburg

Modern apartments in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

If someone claiming to be a landlord contacts you out of the blue, that’s also your cue to run a mile. With so many people looking for housing, most letting agents and landlords will have more than people looking to rent their properties without needing to get in touch with people themselves. Anyone who does is more than likely to be a scammer.

2. Rule out landlords who say they live abroad

One of the major warning signs to look out for is a landlord who claims to be renting the property from abroad, or who says they are out of the country for other reasons, like a last-minute business trip.

That’s usually a scammer’s way of excusing the fact that they won’t be able to meet you personally or even show you the property before you rent it.

“When the country the landlord lives in appears then I would say there’s a really big chance this is a scam,” said Kuba Rudzinski, one of the victims of the Berlin-Neukölln rental fraud.

Even if the excuse seems plausible, your best bet is to ignore anyone who tries to sell you a story about living abroad and simply move on with your house hunt.

3. Do your research online

Before committing to anything, take time to do some thorough research to scope out the property, landlord and letting agent.

Running the pictures and text used in apartment listings through a search engine like Google will help you quickly identify stock photos and text stolen from other listings. For pictures, this is known as a reverse image search.

A laptop

Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash

It’s also worth checking that any websites you’re sent to are fully functional and not copies of other letting agent sites, and that any email addresses match the website domain.

4. Visit the property and ask around

Never agree to rent a property without seeing it in person first. Arrange a viewing and take the opportunity to ask questions about the property and the neighbourhood.

Kuba also recommends speaking with the neighbours in the building to check if the property is genuinely being rented.

“Go to the place before and ask the neighbours, is this flat really for rent? Because these people generally know,” he said. “You’ll need to convince yourself to do it of course, but just ask in the building, ask on the floor where the flat is.”

5. Don’t transfer the full deposit in advance

Advance payments for anything, whether it’s furniture, a deposit or getting a chance to view the property, should be considered a major red flag.

Under German law, you are usually only expected to pay the deposit by the start of the agreed rental contract – and certainly not several months in advance.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andrea Warnecke

You are also legally entitled to pay your three months’ deposit in three instalments on top of your first three months’ rent after moving in, so definitely be cautious of landlords that place pressure on you to transfer a large lump sum.

If you’re really concerned, look into alternatives for paying your deposit, such as Kautionversicherung (deposit insurance) or a Mietkautionssparbuch, where you open a bank account and pledge the amount to the landlord, rather than transferring the money directly.

6. Insist on meeting the landlord or letting agent in person

If a landlord or letting agent refuses to meet you in person or insists on conducting all communication online, they’re probably not who they say they are.

Insist on meeting face-to-face to verify their identity and ensure they have a legitimate connection to the property.

7. Avoid sending documents straight away

Not all rental scams are about getting money from you directly: many scammers are simply after your personal details for the purposes of identity theft.

Be wary of providing personal documents or sensitive information before you’ve verified the legitimacy of the rental agreement, especially when it comes to things like passport scans or other forms of ID.

8. Seek legal advice from experts

If you’re unsure about any aspect of the rental agreement or if something seems suspicious, seek advice from legal experts or tenants’ associations.

However, be aware that this isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee that a tenancy is legitmate. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, even down to producing water-tight rental contracts for would-be tenants.

An estate agent hands over keys to an apartment. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

According to civil lawyer Emilia Tintelnot, becoming a member of a tenants’ association can be a good way to get affordable legal advice, and it can also be helpful to set up legal insurance to ensure you can access help when you need it without having to pay lawyers’ fees up front.

9. Be wary of stereotypes

Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes or preconceived notions about someone’s gender or nationality, as this may cause you to overlook things you might otherwise see as warning signs.

In Kuba’s case, the fact that the fraudsters were German made them appear more legitimate in his eyes, as Polish people tend to see Germans as law-abiding and trustworthy.

Be aware that scammers can come from any cultural background and may use a variety of tactics to deceive unsuspecting renters.

10. Keep an extensive paper trail

Document all communication, agreements, and transactions related to the rental process, including phone numbers and any bank details provided.

According to the Berlin police, this type of evidence can be crucial for an investigation if you do suspect a scammer.

While evidence can differ across cases, “pictures, contact details used by the perpetrators, original documents, bank details with payment receipts” are particularly helpful for investigators, and could help the police stop the scammers for good.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!