Stoisits: Shipping Company Causes Noise Disturbance

The premises of a refrigeration shipping company in Seekirchen am Wallersee has been established in 1993. During loading and unloading the truck engines are never turned off in order to guarantee a continuous cold chain. According to the abutters up to 160 trucks enter and leave the company premises each night.

Several family homes are situated near the company premises and their inhabitants have suffered for years – especially during night time – under the noise which is caused during the loading activities. For many years they have complained to the District Administration Salzburg-Umgebung about the extreme noise disturbance which they are subjected to.

In 2002 the District Administration instructed the company with submitting a reclamation concept and proposing measures which were supposed to contain the noise disturbance. The company presented an elaborate concept in 2003. However, the District Administration did not approbate the concept. The abutters complain that the noise disturbance has remained unchanged. They still suffer from the consequences of sleepless nights.

The company argues that it has presented a remedial plan and that adequate measures have been taken. In its statement the District Administration argues that it has acted correctly and mediated effectively between the involved parties. It refuses the accusation that the company works without consensus.

During the broadcast Ombudswoman Terezija Stoisits asserts that the abutters have nothing they could advert to. Legal certainty is inexistent: the remedial plan which had been ordered in 2002 due to the numerous complaints triggered measures and precautionary action. However, the District Administration never decreed an official notification which actually approves the produced concept. For the Ombudswoman this fact presents the main legal insufficiency. Hence the company is not bound by any conditions or warranties and the abutters have no possibility of taking legal action.

Establishing the actual traffic volume during the night still represents an urgent necessity. Only then will the District Administration be able to present measures which will improve the abutters' situation.