NRW extends suspension of Sunday truck driving ban through end of September

Logistics industry representatives have welcomed the extension. The Verband Spedition und Logistik NRW, which represents freight forwarders and haulage companies in the state, has argued that the Sunday allowance is an important tool for keeping supply chains moving while inland shipping continues to face bottlenecks. Rüdiger Ostrowski, an industry figure cited in the reporting around the policy, has highlighted the operational impact of the Rhine restrictions on trucking capacity.

Industry voices and capacity limits

Kösters, an industry contact quoted by the Rheinische Post, drew attention to the limits of road transport as a substitute for freight that normally travels by water. "Aber sie kann natürlich nicht die gesamten derzeit eingeschränkten Binnenschiffskapazitäten ausgleichen und ist deshalb natürlich wichtig, aber keine Lösung des gesamten Problems," Kösters told the newspaper, adding that longer-than-usual interim storage of dangerous goods containers in the ports was a helpful stopgap.

The state government in Düsseldorf has framed the extension as a pragmatic response to a freight bottleneck rather than a permanent change to weekend driving rules. Officials have pointed to continued low water levels and constrained barge capacity on the Rhine as the main reasons why additional truck movements are still needed on weekends to keep goods flowing to retailers, industrial users and depots.

Coordination with neighbouring states

The suspension is coordinated in practice with neighbouring states. Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland, which sit along the same Rhine corridor, have faced comparable freight challenges, and hauliers operating cross-border routes have adjusted schedules to take advantage of the NRW exemption where it applies.

Industry figures stress that the Sunday allowance only partially compensates for the missing barge capacity. Even with extended weekend driving, trucking cannot match the volumes that inland shipping normally handles, and customers have continued to see longer lead times for certain bulk goods and containerised freight.

Outlook for late September

The state has signalled that it will review the situation again before the end of September. If Rhine conditions improve and barge capacity recovers, the Sunday driving ban could be reimposed on schedule. If constraints persist, a further extension of the truck exemption remains on the table, according to the reporting in the Rheinische Post.

The measure applies specifically to trucks over 7.5 tonnes, the threshold that defines the heavy goods vehicle category subject to the Sunday ban. Smaller commercial vehicles are not covered by the exemption and continue to operate under the standard weekend traffic rules.