ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the early period of road haulage in Germany mainly focused on own-account transport, providing new business models for delivery. In contrast, the evolution of long-distance haulage, with only about 11,000 heavy-weight trucks, was stymied by the intervention of the Reichsbahn, underpinned by state regulation of the financially weak transport industry combined with its protection of the Reichsbahn required by the Dawes Plan. Between 1925 to 1929, when it was allowed to flourish, long-distance road haulage was not able to reveal its full potential as a logistics provider for manufacturing industry. Partly for these reasons, traffic policy in the 1930s failed to exploit the potential of long-distance haulage: the principal focus of policy on overcoming economic crisis and rearmament was skilfully exploited by the Reichsbahn to maintain its dominance. The development of long-distance haulage was also hindered by the wider policies of the Nazi dictatorship.
