German Truck Toll System Faces Further Delays

Germany’s troubled nationwide toll system for heavy trucks, scheduled to start on November 2, could face further delays. German Transport Minster Manfred Stolpe said on Tuesday he would let a panel of experts decide whether the start – originally planned for August – needed to be postponed again. The high-tech system, which is supposed to track commercial transport vehicles on Germany’s highways by satellite, has been beset by technical problems for months. Trucking firms complain they have not received enough of the on-board computers supposed to calculate the per kilometer charge and the ones they have gotten do not always function properly. Greens budgetary affairs spokeswoman Antje Hermenau told the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday that the toll delays would cost the government more than €700 million ($790 million) in lost revenue.