TIRANA, May 24 – The long-ailing construction industry, declining exports, the high oil prices and increased tax burden have been negatively affecting the country’s transport industry during the past few years, especially road transport operators.
Operators say transport costs with neighbouring Kosovo, the country’s second most important destination of exports, have sharply increased in the past couple of years affecting the competitiveness of Albanian products.
Transport costs to Kosovo have increased by €62 due to the application of a €22 customs screening fee in Albania and the application of €40 customs terminal fee on the Kosovo border.
In addition, operators say top trading partner Italy continues applying a discriminatory Cold War tax on Albanian transports despite a promise by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during a visit to Tirana in late December 2014.
Albanian road transport operators pay €9.3 per metric ton for their transports to Italy, compared to only €1 by other regional operators which is negatively affecting their competitiveness.
“The transport tax with Italy continues remaining in force and we are facing higher costs and going bankrupt. We are being discriminated against other regional countries. Now part of the companies are carrying out their transport with Macedonian or other regional trucks because they can no longer afford extra taxes,” Ilir Mataj, a representative of the International Transport Association warned earlier this year.
According to him, Italy benefits about €15 million a year from the transport tax with Albania.
Italy is Albania’s top trading partner with 50 percent of total exports and 30 percent of imports. More than 80 percent of garment and footwear products manufactured in Albania, the country’s main exports, go to Italy. According to Italy’s Confindustria lobby group, some 300 Italian companies operate in Albania, mainly in the footwear and garment manufacturing.
The discriminatory tax has been placed since 1959 and is applied only for Albania, Syria and Iran.
Significantly higher fuel prices compared to regional countries are also affecting the competitiveness of Albania’s road transport operators.
At €1.15/litre, Albania has the world’s 13th most expensive diesel prices, much higher even compared to Germany and on par with France, according to Global Petrol Prices portal. Diesel prices in neighboring Macedonia stood at €0.77/litre compared to Serbia’s €1.08/litre this week.
The number of trucks in Albania has seen a double-digit decline in the past six years, unveiling the difficulties Albania’s transport sector has been facing during these years of economic slowdown and the contraction of the construction sector.
Data published by the country’s state statistical institute, INSTAT, shows the number of trucks and vans dropped to about 71,000 in 2015, down from 84,314 in 2010, registering a 15 percent decline.
By contrast, the number of personal cars increased from about 295,000 in 2010 to 403,600 in 2015.
Albania’s transport industry contracted by around a third during 2012-2014 when the Albanian economy grew between 1 to 2 percent, the lowest growth rates since more than a decade, according to INSTAT. The transport sector contracted by 17 percent in 2014 after shrinking by a total of 16 percent in 2013 and 2012.
