ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Connecting people
and places
In 2021, IRU focused on what the road transport industry does best: connecting societies with safe, efficient and green mobility and logistics.
After the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, where road transport played such a key role in delivering through the darkest days of the pandemic, 2021 saw hints of normality returning to both IRU and the road transport sector.
In 2021, our union grew ever stronger. We welcomed 13 new members, many large multinational corporations, who share our vision
Radu Dinescu
President
We contributed to upgraded UN standards on vehicle safety innovation, automated vehicles and advanced emergency breaking systems.
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We assessed new training options for drivers with the UN’s ADR Convention on transporting dangerous goods.
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We launched a new RoadMasters app to easily access real-time safety performance metrics.
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We issued 25,354 certificates through the IRU Academy.
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We accredited six new training institutes across Europe and Asia.
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We helped secure a EUR 250 million investment for safe and secure parking in the EU.
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We lobbied governments to coordinate COVID measures and ease restrictions to keep supply chains moving.
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We brought WHO and ILO chiefs together for COVID crisis talks on cross-border transport worker.
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We activated major new TIR and digital TIR corridors linking Central Asia, Eurasia and the Middle East, demonstrating huge time savings.
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We continued to push digital tools such as eCMR and helped expand the BSEC permit system.
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We released our annual driver shortage survey to drive action on fixing the problem.
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We helped enforce new EU social rules for drivers under the Mobility Package 1, successfully pushing for European Commission clarifications.
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We launched the IRU Green Compact to make commercial road transport carbon neutral.
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We ran a dialogue with climate leaders from the UN, the EU and the industry on road transport decarbonisation
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We responded to the EU’s Fit for 55 proposals and debated them at the annual IRU EU Conference.
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We set and monitored data collection guidelines for the EU-funded H2Haul project to test the deployment of hydrogen fuel cell trucks in four countries.
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We briefed Mexico’s National Council on Fuel Efficiency on global decarbonisation initiative.
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We awarded Eurasia’s best transport operators for excellence in economic performance, corporate social responsibility and the environment.
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A global mission
IRU brings together business, partnering with those who regulate, serve and use our industry, to deliver our vision.
We are the trusted voice for the industry, steering the agenda with global advocacy.
We facilitate transport, especially for cross-border services and keeping trade moving with TIR.
We champion excellence, with a focus on training, certification and standards.
We provide intelligence, information and foresight into the future of the industry.
We bring our members, regulators and the industry together at events through the year.
We deliver our global mission with, and for, our membership.
Steering the agenda
IRU advances the interests of the commercial road transport sector, working closely with members, as well as governments, regulators and international organisations.
Learn more about our advocacy workKeeping trade moving
IRU runs the TIR system in more than 60 countries worldwide, lowering transport costs and making trade more secure and efficient.
Learn more about TIRChampioning professionnal excellence
IRU’s certification and standards team drives professional excellence in road transport with innovative solutions to help companies recruit, retain and manage the human capital they need to strive.
Learn more about IRU AcademyForesight on the future
Advanced research, partners and grassroots knowledge allow IRU to provide unique business and market intelligence on the road transport sector.
Learn more about IRU intelligenceBringing the industry together
IRU is a global community of road transport professionals, helping members access and network with companies, authorities and organisations in more than 120 countries.
Learn more about our eventsWelcome to the team
We welcomed 13 new members into the IRU family in 2021, bringing the total to 166 members in 77 countries.
Learn more about IRU membershipDelivering around the world
With more than 170 members on six continents, and active partners and relationships in over 120 countries, IRU’s reach and work spans seven strategic regions.
Americas
Black Sea
China
West and Central Asia
European Union
Eurasia
Middle East
Americas
Working with members in North and South America, IRU works on trade and cross-border transportation issues, supporting in addition the long-term use of TIR in southern Latin America.
Black Sea
Centred on the countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organisation (BSEC), IRU supports members, governments and regional organisations on trade and transport issues.
China
IRU works closely with Chinese transport and customs authorities and its members, representing transport operators and shippers, on cross-border logistics and mobility issues.
Eurasia
IRU’s work on commercial road transport in Eurasia covers member associations and regional intergovernmental organisations across 13 countries.
European Union
EU institutions in Brussels are the centre of IRU’s work across the European Union, covering a wide range of passenger and goods transport advocacy, and EU-funded research projects.
Middle East
work in the Middle East spans North Africa across to the Gulf Cooperation Council, with a focus on trade and TIR in the region, and passenger transport in key countries.
West and Central Asia
IRU’s work in this region spans the ten nations of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), from Turkey, Iran and Pakistan north-eastwards to Kazakhstan.
Driving forward
Our vision to connect societies with safe, efficient and green mobility and logistics is driving IRU forward to better serve our industry, and those our industry serves.
Our industry has never been more important. Road transport connects more people and more places than any other mode of transport.
With our advocacy, transport and transit facilitation, and certification and standards work; with our market intelligence services and platforms to bring the industry and its partners together; and with our growing global membership, IRU will drive our industry forward – for the industry, and for all whom we serve in connecting societies with safe, efficient and green mobility and logistics.
Umberto de Pretto
Secretary General
Our members
IRU serves, represents, defends and works with our members every day. Our members are national and regional passenger and goods transport associations and leading multinational companies in mobility and logistics from all corners of the world. They are at the heart of everything we do.
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