ECTA Drivers APP – This is the European chemical industry´s performance
First analysis of the data received by Truck Drivers of the chemical industry
ECTA can look back to a full year of data received by Truck Drivers of the chemical industry about their daily experiences at chemical loading and unloading locations across Europe. This is what we learned about the chemical industry and its performance so far!
ECTA´s aim for the ECTA Drivers APP
In the autumn of 2023 ECTA released its ECTA Drivers APP to let truck drivers rate their daily experiences at (un)loading locations of the chemical industry across Europe. With that hands-on initiative ECTA and its members follow the goal to improve the job attractiveness and work conditions of drivers of the chemical industry.
Since the start, more and more ECTA Members joined the initiative by inviting their (sub)contracted drivers to the APP to give them the opportunity to rate chemical sites based on safety, waiting time, truck driver treatment and driver facilities. Moreover, drivers can leave a text comment and tell ECTA if a location can be called female-driver-friendly.
“We want to give Drivers a voice.”
This is how the chemical industry is performing
ECTA is looking back on more than one year of data to create a valid and representative benchmark per rating category (safety, waiting time, truck driver treatment and driver facilities).
The data shows big gaps between the best and the worst performing chemical (un)loading sites across Europe, which underlines the importance of the ECTA Drivers APP to tackle problem areas and learn from the best performers of the industry.
ECTA wants to highlight that there is a smaller performance gap for safety across the industry on the sites, which is promising and proof that safety is on the agendas of each supply chain party.
Another gap is visible for loading and unloading times. The ECTA Drivers APP residence time results show that 22% of (un)loadings do not exceed 2 hours, while 61% are reported to be between two and four hours. 17% even exceed a residence time for more than 4 hours. While the residence time captures the time between arrival and departure of a driver at a site, ECTA strongly recommends waiting times for unloading and loadings under three hours!
Positive acceptance of reports by the chemical industry
ECTA is constantly reporting towards the chemical industry by giving out individual reports to locations, location cooperation partners and chemical industry association parties. These reporting calls have been held since summer 2024 and are planned to be continued. We see a very high positive acceptance of the reports and the feedback given by truck drivers of the chemical industry. The shippers involved do not only show interest in the benchmark opportunity but are also eager to define areas for improvement.
By reporting regularly, ECTA and the shippers are learning and are able to recommend and implement improvements.
Numbers and partners of the ECTA Drivers APP
- More than 1300 locations across Europe can be rated
- 1800+ drivers are registered to the ECTA Drivers APP
- Drivers can rate safety, waiting time, truck driver treatment and facilities and provide information if a location is lady-friendly, as well as explain their review by providing a text comment
Over the last year, ECTA furthermore inspired parties of the chemical industry to join the ECTA Drivers APP as cooperation partners. So far, a handful of big players agreed to support the initiative by providing posters and information material at their sites, as they see the benefit for drivers and agree that the improvement of work conditions for truck drivers is a common industry-effort.
At the moment, the following chemical (un)loading sites are ECTA Drivers APP cooperation partners:
- BASF Antwerpen
- Dow in Terneuzen, Stade and Tarragona
- Arkema in Jarrie, Lacq, Marseille, Carling and Serquigny
- INEOS Styrolution with 10 locations in Germany, Belgium and France
- Stolthaven Terminals in Dagenham, Moerdijk and Antwerp
- Evonik with 67 locations across Europe
- Repsol in Tarragona, Sines and Puertollano
- Noord Natie Odfjell Antwerp Terminal
- Infineum Germany
More are currently pending or on-boarding.
In 2025, ECTA will create a sub-team Workgroup with its members to focus on promotion, implementation and the future of the ECTA Drivers APP.