The National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain, Fenadismer, has denounced this Friday the "discrimination" that, in its view, professional hauliers will suffer after the recent end of the concession period for the AP-68 motorway, considering that the abolition of tolls means "halfway" free access for heavy vehicles.
The organization "deeply regrets" that the liberalization of the AP-68 is not applied in an "equitable" manner to freight transport vehicles and emphasizes that, out of the total 294 kilometers of the motorway, only 177 kilometers will become completely free.
"Through the Navarre and Basque sections, around 3,000 trucks travel daily, which will be forced to keep paying for using an infrastructure formally amortized along its entire route over the more than four decades of concession it has undergone, which entails a territorial comparative disadvantage and a direct impact on the economic profitability of transport companies," it criticizes in a statement.
In particular, Fenadismer recalls that the Government of the Foral Community of Navarre has decided that its sections will be free for passenger cars, but will keep mandatory tolls for trucks, on a section with an average daily traffic of around 12,500 vehicles, of which nearly 25% are heavy.
Likewise, it indicates that the sections that run through the Basque Country will continue to be tolled and stresses that the change of management model will not imply the removal of barriers on the Basque section, but only a reduction in rates through tolls of their own and bonuses set by each foral council.
For this reason, the federation denounces the "discrimination" that will affect professional hauliers "depending on where they travel along that route".
Fenadismer recalls that the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility ended this Tuesday the concession period of the AP-68 motorway between Bilbao and Zaragoza, 294.4 kilometers long, which is now to be managed, in each territory, by the General State Administration, the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, and the Foral Community of Navarre.
Starting at 00.00 hours on 11 November, the state-owned section of the AP-68 was free of charge for all users. Overall, this segment totals 177 kilometers, distributed in 0.3 km in the province of Burgos, 119.4 km in the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, and 57.4 km in the Autonomous Community of Aragón.