Fenadismer demands urgent revision of truck immobilization indemnities tied to IPREM

The compensation rates applied to immobilized trucks and vehicle damage in Spain have remained frozen since 2022, tied to the officially published value of the IPREM, producing an over-80% erosion in practical indemnity levels compared with the previous SMI-based reference.

Legal context and numerical impact

The 2009 Law of the Road Transport Contract set out specific indemnity rules for cases where a carrier must wait more than one hour for loading or unloading, or suffers immobilization due to circumstances beyond its control (accident, incident, third-party delay). That law replaced the earlier practice of using the Salario Mínimo Interprofesional (SMI) as the reference index and instead tied compensation to the Indicador Público de Renta de Efectos Múltiples (IPREM), which is set annually through the State Budget.

Because Spain failed to approve national budgets in the last three years, the official IPREM figure has not been updated since 2022. The combined effect of the index change and the frozen IPREM has produced a sharp real-terms reduction in indemnities for the road freight sector.

Quantifying the depreciation

Why carriers are alarmed

Fenadismer and many road hauliers argue the IPREM reference undermines the ability of carriers to recover fair economic losses from delays and damage. Practically speaking, when waiting times, roadside repairs, or accident-related immobilizations occur, the compensation available under the frozen IPREM no longer covers the real operating costs — driver hours, fuel, vehicle downtime, subcontractor hire and administrative follow-up.

Operational consequences for logistics

• Higher operating risk: lower indemnities shift incident cost onto carriers, reducing margins.
• Price pressure: carriers may raise freight and haulage rates to cover unmitigated risks.
• Contract strain: shippers and forwarders may face more frequent disputes over indemnity claims.
• Service reliability: drivers and fleets could prioritize routes or customers who accept supplemental insurance or higher compensation terms.

Real-world ripple effects

Think of a small refrigerated haulage operator whose truck is stopped for six hours due to a loading error at a distribution center. Under a realistic SMI index the operator could claim meaningful compensation for driver time and lost corridor slots; under the frozen IPREM, the same claim translates to pocket change. I’ve seen dispatchers curse the math at 2 a.m.—it’s the sort of thing that forces a company to decide between eating costs or passing them on to the customer.

What Fenadismer is asking

Fenadismer has asked the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to promote an urgent legislative measure to update the IPREM for 2026 with a substantial increase relative to the currently frozen value. The request is framed as an extraordinary, immediate correction to prevent further commercial distortion and to restore a reasonable alignment between indemnities and real costs in road freight operations.

Potential policy options

Authorities could consider one of several remedies:

• Temporarily revert indemnity calculations to the SMI or to a hybrid index that better follows wage growth;
• Legislate a one-off upward revision of the IPREM for 2026 to reflect inflation and wage dynamics;
• Introduce sector-adjusted compensation floors for critical haulage categories (refrigerated, hazardous, oversize, etc.).

Logistics managers should watch these signals

Supply chain planners and freight buyers need to incorporate the indemnity drift into risk models. Even if a formal policy change seems narrow or technical, the knock-on effects — higher freight rates, more claims, potential shortages of willing carriers for complex loads — can alter routing choices, insurance decisions and inventory buffers.

Checklist for carriers and shippers

• Review contracts: ensure clauses cover waiting times and immobility with up-to-date rates.
• Document incidents meticulously: photos, timestamps, witness statements and third-party reports.
• Evaluate insurance riders for immobilization and damage to offset reduced statutory indemnities.
• Negotiate transparent handling and loading SLAs with shippers to minimize disputes.

From a practical standpoint, smaller carriers are the most exposed. When statutory compensation falls behind costs, those with thin margins are the first to feel pressure — sometimes leading to route cancellations or consolidation of services. Like they say, “pennies saved are pounds lost” when delays cascade into broader supply-chain disruption.

Provide a short forecast on how this news could impact the global logistics. The immediate global impact is limited: the IPREM issue is a national policy matter affecting Spain’s domestic and cross-border road hauliers more than global shipping lanes. However, it remains relevant to logistics stakeholders who contract Spanish carriers or route freight through Spain, because higher local transport costs and risk aversion could affect European distribution patterns. GetTransport.com aims to stay abreast of all developments and keep pace with the changing world. For your next cargo transportation, consider the convenience and reliability of GetTransport.com.

The most important takeaways are straightforward: indemnity indices matter, index freezes erode carrier viability, and operational decisions follow quickly. The best reviews and most honest feedback still can’t replace first-hand experience; on GetTransport.com, you can order your cargo transportation at the best prices globally at reasonable prices. This empowers you to make informed decisions without unnecessary expenses or disappointments. Enjoy transparency, convenience and a wide selection of services — from office and home moves to palletized freight, vehicle transport and bulky goods. Get the best offers GetTransport.com.com

In summary, the frozen IPREM has produced a significant depreciation of indemnity levels for Spanish road transport, eroding contractual compensation that historically tracked the SMI. This creates immediate financial strain on carriers, potential upward pressure on freight rates, and increased disputes over immobilization and damage claims. Logistics teams should audit contracts, insurers should reassess coverage, and carriers should document incidents carefully. Platforms like GetTransport.com can simplify arranging freight, offering affordable global solutions for cargo, shipment, delivery, transport, forwarding, dispatch and haulage — from parcels and pallets to containers and bulky items — helping bridge the gap between service needs and cost-effective execution.