Road freight transport comprises a range of activities involved in moving various types of goods between two or more locations using specific categories of vehicles. In addition to the actual road transport itself, this also includes the transhipment, handling and storage of goods.
The main advantages of road freight transport are the well-developed road infrastructure and the ability to reach remote locations, shorter delivery times and low delivery costs, particularly over short distances, and considerable flexibility in terms of transport conditions.
Due to its lower load-carrying capacity compared with other modes of transport, its disadvantages include higher costs for the depreciation of equipment and fuel costs per unit of transport output, as well as the significant pollution caused by goods road transport.
Transport and freight forwarding companies offer their customers a variety of terms and conditions for the carriage of their goods, which, depending on the type of goods, can be classified as:
- Road transport of foodstuffs – this includes refrigerated transport with cooling and refrigerated transport with freezing;
- Road transport of general cargo;
- Oversized loads;
- Road transport of waste;
- Road transport of live animals;
- Road transport of dangerous goods (ADR).
The ‘Road transport of general cargo’ category covers all freight transport on public roads using standard road vehicles. It can be divided into two modes of transport:
- Full Truck Load (FTL) transport – the hire of a vehicle to fully utilise the available space with goods from a single consignor or consignee;
- Groupage transport (Less than Truck Load – LTL) – arranging for a vehicle to be partially filled with goods from a single consignor or consignee. Under this arrangement, goods from several customers are loaded onto the same lorry. This method is also known as groupage transport.
In practice, it sometimes happens that a supplier registered under the Value Added Tax Act (VAT Act) , to make a small-volume supply of goods to a counterparty registered for VAT in another Member State, using road transport in which goods from different suppliers are carried in a single vehicle (groupage transport).
The supply meets the conditions for an intra-Community supply (ICS), but uncertainties and questions sometimes arise regarding the transport documents relating to such a consignment.
The international carriage of goods by road is governed by the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road. In Bulgaria, the international consignment note for road transport is commonly known as the CMR.
The Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road applies to any contract for the carriage of goods by road in vehicles for remuneration, where the place of taking over of the goods for carriage and the place of delivery, as specified in the contract, are situated in two different States, at least one of which is a Contracting State.
The contract of carriage is evidenced by a consignment note (CMR). The absence, irregularity or loss of the consignment note shall not affect either the existence or the validity of the contract of carriage, which shall remain subject to the provisions of this Convention.
Where the goods to be carried are to be loaded onto different means of transport, or where there are different types of goods or separate consignments, the consignor or the carrier is entitled to require that as many consignment notes (CMR) be drawn up as there are vehicles, or as there are types of goods or individual consignments.
Under Article 53(2) of the VAT Act, the documents certifying the performance of an intra-Community supply are specified in the regulations implementing the Act. Under Article 45 of the VAT Implementation Regulations, the documents certifying an intra-Community supply are:
- an invoice for the supply, stating the grounds for applying a zero VAT rate, and documents proving the dispatch or transport of the goods from the territory of the country to the territory of another Member State, such as a consignment note,
- or written confirmation from the consignee that the goods have been received within the territory of the Member State of destination, a handover report, and so on.
In accordance with the above, the consignor is entitled to request the issue of a consignment note (CMR) for the carriage of the goods dispatched by them, even if they formed part of a groupage consignment.
