16


TAPA PARKING SECURITY REQUIREMENTS


to a secure truck parking area is not the result of companies being unwilling to use a secure facility, it is more a lack of awareness, planning or information.”


Planners and drivers need to know where to find secure parking sites


“As an industry, we need to provide secure truck parking areas where they are needed, we have to make everybody aware of the crime statistics and the need to use these more secure facilities, and, last but not least, we have to make sure planners and drivers know where they are.”


That’s arguably a far bigger challenge for some PPOs than it is for Truckparkings Rotterdam Exploitatie BV, which has an occupation rate of more than 90%. Ton says he is yet to survey customers to determine how many bookings are being triggered by the company’s TAPA PSR certification but he expects the successful occupancy rate ‘will partly have to do with our TAPA certification.’


Most potential lies in upgrading existing parking sites


This, however, is not where the real growth opportunity lies. “To me, the greenfield development of new sites is too slow to make a significant difference in the near future. Instead, upgrading existing sites, and the potential to expand these once successful, makes much more sense if you look at the gap between what is needed and what is there. Don’t get me wrong, we do need the bigger investments and plans, and they should receive a great deal of attention from policymakers and investors, but there is a bigger potential to unlock right now.”


Ton continues: “The estimated shortage, in my mind, reflects the current situation. Regardless of the accuracy of this number, it shows the enormous task that lies ahead of us. In the last decade, we identified a need for secure truck parkings and have started, as an industry, to build and operate them. When you start to


discuss a current shortage of 2,000 sites each with a capacity of 200+ HGVs, it’s immediately clear that the parking industry has met less than 10% of the demand in the last 10+ years. We need to find ways to accelerate this programme fast. It is not the accuracy of the 2,000 parking sites we are short of today that I’m worried about, it is the overall lack of progress to fill the gap.”


Alongside that lack of progress is, often, also a lack of awareness


“There are trucks being parked (illegally) near our sites. I cannot see what cargo they hold, but I’m not astonished by this use of what TAPA calls ‘unclassified parking’. Bear in mind that vehicles have to park up because driving time has come to an end. In most places throughout Europe, there is no secure truck parking available and we have trained and educated truck drivers to park creatively when dictated to do so by their tachograph. So, in most cases, seeing them end up at a spot near


His measurement of the value of adopting TAPA’s secure parking standard, however, goes beyond a simple ROI equation. He explains: “It also has to do with optimisation of investments and operational costs. A good certification programme - which TAPA offers - also helps you understand what is needed to provide security and how to provide this in a professional and cost efficient way. So, it’s important to take a broader look than just to focus on turnover. Like in every business, PPOs have to offer what their customers are looking for. TAPA’s PSR gives you that answer as far as security goes.”


Certification ‘makes you improve’


Certification, he says, challenges a business to check its procedures (like ISO does) and the inherent quality of its organisation. “It provides us with a transparent analysis of what we can or should improve both in terms of our operations and assets. So, it is the process itself that brings the most benefits and leads to further improvement and professionalism.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30