Held in Geneva, the UNECE Inland Transport Security Discussion Forum on Secure Parking Areas included keynote speakers from Interpol, the European Secure Parking Organization and the UNECE Transport Division, who all emphasised the need for strengthened initiatives and  public private partnerships to further promote and develop secure parking areas.

The intention behind the forum was to effectively tackle the great demand for secure parking areas along the road transport network, as well as the necessity to adapt them to modern road transport logistics needs, such as easy location, capacity, safety, cargo security and availability of adequate rest facilities for drivers.

IRU General Delegate to the EU, Michael Nielsen, stated: ‘As road freight transport is the dominating freight transport mode across the globe with a 72.2% market share in the European Union for the total land-based transport of goods, it is imperative to ensure the security and safety of road transport operations for the industry to keep driving EU and the world’s economies.’

He added that this lack of adequate parking facilities, combined with the serious organised road crime, led the IRU in 2009  to develop its TRANSPark partnership with the International Transport Forum. TRANSPark is an ITS platform that helps commercial road transport operators and drivers locate parking areas in over 40 countries free of charge, thus enabling them to comply with strict driving and rest time rules despite the acute shortage of truck parking areas.

Mr Nielsen concluded: ‘The IRU is now cooperating closely with the European Commission to define the best way to ensure the permanent availability of updated content on parking areas within the EU. We are convinced that the best way to achieve this, in the EU and beyond, is to guarantee that authorities responsible for parking areas systematically provide the location, security and comfort information of commercial vehicle parking areas to systems such as TRANSPark in a harmonised, systematic and regular manner, or at least ensure that relevant parking managers do so.’