It’s almost 2020, a perfect moment to revisit 2019! We are happy to mention that 2019 has been a good year in truck parking. Our network of secure bookable locations has almost tripled. You can now book a guaranteed spot at 86 locations in 20 countries.
Also, this year you, your drivers and our team of specialists have identified 2,658 new locations. This brings our comprehensive database of truck parking locations to a total of 36,346 by year’s end.
Despite the enormous growth of parking locations in our app, the fact remains that there is still a significant shortage of (safe) truck parking locations. This means that together as an industry, we have to solve the parking problem. We have some ideas.
Solving the parking problem together
That’s why we have made, together with several local players, secure depot locations accessible to transport companies. These locations are owned by various companies that rent out their parking spaces when their own trucks are on the road - a wonderful solution to the parking problem, both for the tenant and the lessor of the parking place.
Opening up our database to others
Our platform contains a lot of data, and we have created an API that makes this data available to other tech companies in the transport sector. This offers Transport Management Systems (TMS), Fleet Management Systems (FMS), route planning software and navigation services the possibility to create a seamless experience for drivers and planning managers, including a comfortable and secure break on the journey from A to B.
Funding available to improve parking areas in Europe
Luckily, we are not the only ones who worry about the lack of truck parking areas. The European Commission also expresses their worries by committing €60 million to the expansion of the safe and secure truck parking area network across Europe. This news represents a major first step in tackling this problem and improving conditions for long-distance drivers across Europe.
New partnership with ESPORG
This year we partnered up with ESPORG. ESPORG stands for European Secure Parking Organisation and offers certification for truck parking locations that covers security and comfort facilities. ESPORG also provides a toolkit to interested parking area operators to enhance safety and security.
Besides ESPORG, we are already partners with World of Heroes and TAPA, an association of security professionals and related business partners who have come together for the purpose of addressing the emerging security threats that are common to the relevant industries. In our (web)app you can filter and find ESPORG- and TAPA-certified secure parking locations.
This year we added the first PSR1-certified parking in Europe to our app: Delta Park Dourges. PSR1 is the highest security standard a parking operator can receive from TAPA.
Our new shareholder: Volkswagen Financial Services AG
Volkswagen Financial Services AG acquired a majority shareholding in Truck Parking Europe in 2019. It’s great to see that such a big player in the market acknowledges the importance of safe and secure truck parking. The goal for 2020 is to further expand the leading market position of our service and booking platform for (secure) truck parking spaces. With the joint venture, VWFS and Truck Parking Europe would like to further reinforce and expand their engagement with mobility services for the logistics community in Europe.
The new Truck Parking Europe office
In 2019, just as the number of truck parking locations in our app grew a lot, so did our own team. We grew so much that we have now outgrown our previous office. The only solution: moving. So that’s what we did. In October, we picked up our laptops and walked to the new Truck Parking Europe office just a few meters from the old one. The absolute eye-catcher of our new office is right at the entrance. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch our crown jewel unfold in the video below!
The Truck Parking Europe app 🌟
As if the above is not enough, in the past year the Truck Parking Europe app has been used a lot, and our users are satisfied! In 2019, the Truck Parking Europe app got an average rating of 4.6 stars! We included new filters and redesigned our onboarding, which significantly increased the number of drivers signing up for our app.
We are proud that more and more drivers and transport companies get to know where to find us. We are also thrilled that the market is moving and that the importance of safe truck parking locations is increasingly being recognised.
Our promise for 2020
Last year our New Year’s resolution was to increase the number of bookable locations. Thanks to our new shareholder Volkswagen Financial Services AG, we can keep pushing this agenda. Our promise for 2020 is that we will grow our network of locations and we will launch an even better version of our platform that will further improve the ease of use for drivers and transport companies to book a secure parking spot.
We are looking forward to 2020!
