Fair wind for hauliers: Greece bets on digitalisation and decarbonisation on its roads

Greek roads become a true ordeal for hauliers every year, and the perfect storm dragging the freight transport sector shows no signs of letting up. To the already fragile economic viability of the sector, identified by the Hellenic Federation of Road Transport (OFAE) as “at a critical point” due to an accumulation of decisions and omissions, a whirlwind of new regulations coming into force this year is now added. In March, the Hellenic Parliament approved an ambitious transport modernisation project covering everything from electromobility to process digitalisation, although with its main focus on taxis and passenger transport, leaving freight transport in an unsettling second place.

The real headache for lorry drivers, however, comes with the mandatory digitalisation of documentation: from 1 May 2026, companies transporting goods without the digital delivery note face fines of up to €5,000 – a hammer blow for a sector already drowning. Added to this regulatory cocktail is the headache of urban emission restrictions, although with the particularity that Greece has not yet deployed the aggressive Low Emission Zones (LEZs) that plague other European capitals. The great exception is central Athens’ “Daktylios”, which since October 2025 has imposed an alternate-day circulation system based on even or odd licence plates for all private vehicles and light trucks under 2.2 tonnes seeking to enter the heart of the capital.

The regulation, meanwhile, protects the most sustainable vehicles: exempt are electrics, natural gas vehicles, hybrids and – mark this – Euro 6 models emitting less than 120g of CO2/km, a threshold that paves the way for an increasingly clean and quiet delivery fleet. For the moment, there are no active LEZs in Thessaloniki. The toll chapter, however, is where the bill becomes truly bloody. Since 1 January 2026, tolls have increased by between €0.05 and €0.10 per journey on most motorways, an adjustment justified by concessionaires due to annual inflation. The system is a model of fragmentation: it is based on distance-based payment at physical toll booths with countless vehicle categories.

For a 2‑ or 3‑axle truck, the “entry” to the Attiki Odos motorway, for example, now costs €6.30, while a heavy vehicle with 4 or more axles pays an arm and a leg: €10.10 for a single journey. European hauliers, who previously bore these costs, now face an even greater drain on their bottom lines, multiplied by the kilometres driven. But the problem is not just the price, but the inefficiency and chaos of an outdated payment system that has become a genuine bottleneck. Although in theory you can pay by credit card or cash at toll stations, the reality is very different. Since late 2025, Greece has suffered from serious network dropouts and saturation of point‑of‑sale (POS) terminals that accept electronic payments, causing extreme slowness and even the impossibility of completing transactions.

The ideal solution – a unified electronic toll system – is a utopia: up to six different systems (e‑Way, O‑Pass, Fast Pass, etc.) operated by different concessionaires coexist, although transponders are transferable between them. A real mess for international fleets, who see how the lack of full interoperability slows down their routes. The result of this cocktail of fragmented regulations, rising tolls and bureaucratic chaos is an unsustainable situation that has led Greek hauliers and farmers to take justice into their own hands. From late 2025 into early this year, road blockades have multiplied across the country: tractors blocked the Ionian Motorway and the port of Patras, demanding solutions to costs they consider already abusive. Borders became powder kegs: the Evzones and Promachonas border crossings suffered intermittent closures, with tractors blocking traffic in both directions. The sector cries out for urgent measures: incentives to renew fleets, a real plan against illegal transport that generates unfair competition, and an effective reduction in fuel and toll costs. Greece needs a coherent plan for freight transport, or its roads will remain the perfect setting for a perfect storm.