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Trucks on the A8 (archive image)
Photo: Josef Reisner / dpa
The supply problems of the German economy simply do not end.
After the shortage of wood, building materials and chips, shipping companies are now faced with a critical shortage of urea supplies.
The lack of the urea exhaust gas cleaning agent AdBlue in the transport industry alarmed Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer.
"We keep a close eye on the situation and take the warnings from the logisticians very seriously," the CSU politician told the Handelsblatt (click here for the full report).
"The top priority must be to keep our supply chains running."
He supported the industry's proposal after a round table in the Ministry of Economic Affairs to quickly remedy the situation, said the acting minister.
»The international transport chains are still very tense due to Corona.
We simply cannot afford to have parts of road transport fail due to a lack of raw materials. "
Should the state bunker AdBlue?
A cause for concern is the decision by urea manufacturers to cut back and partially discontinue production of the exhaust gas cleaning agent in view of the steep rise in natural gas prices.
Modern trucks and buses, as well as privately used diesel vehicles, can no longer drive without AdBlue.
The freight transport association BGL had already warned of far-reaching consequences in mid-October.
Several AdBlue manufacturers had announced that they would partially or completely reduce production due to inefficiency, it was said at the time.
These include the chemical giant BASF, one of the largest urea producers.
That would have dramatic consequences for around 90 percent of truck traffic in Germany, which is dependent on AdBlue.
The BGL association had drawn the incumbent Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier's attention to the situation in a letter - and suggested the formation of a national “AdBlue reserve”.
More and more transport companies "report that wholesalers are no longer keeping their delivery orders," warns the BGL.
beb / dpa
