TRIESTE – A last-minute agreement was reached between the Government and road hauliers on the evening of 22 May, averting the national HGV stoppage scheduled from Monday 24 to Friday 29 May. The mobilisation could potentially have involved 77,000 heavy goods vehicles between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, with repercussions for freight distribution and the supply of essential goods.
The Executive put forward a package of measures to ease costs for the sector, from high fuel prices to operating expenses, while employers’ associations called off the stoppage. According to the Research Department of the CGIA of Mestre, almost three months after the outbreak of the war in the Gulf, the price of diesel at the pump rose from an average of €1.676 to €1.986 per litre, an increase of 18.5%. Despite the 20-cent cut in excise duties introduced by the Government on 19 March, in the first twelve weeks of the crisis road freight transport incurred estimated extra costs of €2.1 billion nationwide.
For road hauliers in Veneto, the increase amounts to around €180 million, while for Friuli Venezia Giulia the figure is €33.5 million. In Veneto, the strike would have affected around 65,000 heavy goods vehicles, while in FVG almost 12,000 units would have been involved. In Italy, the vehicle fleet includes 741,500 heavy goods vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes, with the highest concentrations in Lombardy (91,460 vehicles), Campania (89,230) and Sicily (82,355). Veneto has 64,839, while Friuli Venezia Giulia has 11,890.
The real critical issue for the sector is not only the price of diesel, but the time lag between payments and receipts. Diesel is paid for at the pump or through very short-term invoices, while invoices for transport services are paid to hauliers after 60, 90 or even 120 days. This creates a lethal liquidity crisis, with hauliers forced to advance huge sums to keep their trucks on the road. Protection mechanisms such as fuel surcharges do exist, allowing rates to be adjusted in line with changes in diesel prices recorded by the Ministry, but their application is neither automatic nor universal. Small owner-drivers struggle to impose adjustments on major customers, and the adjustment often takes effect only after a delay compared with the surge in prices. The steep increases are compounded by long-standing structural weaknesses, first and foremost late payments. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport intervened last October with a circular providing for severe penalties of up to 10% of annual turnover, imposed by the Competition Authority (AGCM) on customers that fail to comply with payment terms.
Over the past 10 years, the total stock of active road haulage companies in Veneto has fallen by 2,142 units. From 8,808 in 2015, the number fell to 6,666 in 2025 (-24.3%), two percentage points more than the national average (-22.2%). In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the contraction amounted to 449 units, from 1,473 in 2015 to 1,024 in 2025 (-30.5%), one of the most critical situations nationwide.
According to the CGIA, the sovereign debt crisis (2012-2013) and the Covid crisis (2020-2022) contributed decisively to reducing the number of companies, together with competition from foreign carriers from Eastern Europe. However, the high number of mergers and acquisitions has reduced the number of single-vehicle companies, increasing the average size and productivity level of the entire logistics system.
