Effects of the EUROCOMBI on the automotive industry logistics in Austria

Abstract

The implementation of the EUROCOMBI has been politically discussed for several years and now there are no signs from the Austrian government that this type of truck will be allowed in the near future. The reasons for this strict refusal are manifold, but this thesis takes into account the economic reasons only, especially those of the Automotive Industry. To identify the possible benefits for the industry, the Automotive Industry in Austria is briefly described as well as in the following chapter the different modes of transport and their usage for the Automotive Industry. Afterwards transport units and the different variations of trucks are described briefly, finalizing the chapter with an overview of the different variations of the EUROCOMBI and the idea behind. Having a look at selected countries in the European Union, this thesis puts an emphasis on Germany and the running field test of the EUROCOMBI in some federal states to have a fair comparison with the Austrian circumstances. The main part of the thesis is the detailed and standardized calculation of a theoretical case of the Austrian Automotive industry with different scenarios to investigate possible savings of a possible implementation of the EUROCOMBI. As a conclusion, the EUROCOMBI is suitable to save costs by more than 20 % on selected lanes and businesses, without greater investments in infrastructure, vehicle fleets or premises.