V OU'LL FIND," said the man on the phone, "that the Irish
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transport business is nothing like the British transport business."
The man was speaking in general. He is the Irish agent of a British lorry company, and what he said was quite true up to a point.
Bedevilled by government licensing regulations, high import duties on vehicles, and expensive spares, the Irish haulage industry is like a cripple competing in a marathon race.
In a report prepared by the Irish Prices Commission it was found that prices on lorries in The Republic are 41 per cent higher than in the UK, and the cost of spare parts can be anything from 65 to 100 per cent more. To be then asked to compete with other EEC hauliers for business seems something of an affront: "How can we compete with foreigners who pay £6,000 less for a lorry than we do?" asked one Irish transport manager.
One reason for the high prices: a government regulation decreeing that approximately 25 per cent of a vehicle must be assembled in the Republic to qualify for a lower import tarif. The law, like all laws, was no doubt passed with the best of intentions, but it's had some odd consequences.
An example would be that of a Swedish lorry that is completely assembled in Sweden before shipment. It's sent to Scotland first, and those lorries destined for the Irish Republic are then knocked down, put into crates, sent to Eire, then taken out of the crates and put back together again.
No doubt ifs a useful exercise and steady employment for those in Scotland and the Republic employed taking lorries apart and reassembling them — and perhaps that was the Intent of the law — but for an Irish haulier it makes the price of this particular vehicle £1,500 to £2,000 more expensive than it should be.
There are other facets to Irish law that appear a bit strange to visitors from across the sea: trailer marking regulations, for instance, that discriminate against the national haulier; a lack of yearly vehicle testing; and a complex system of vehicle licensing.
However, there is one area in which Irish haulage is very much like its British counter-part: the sort of lorries being run. Despite inroads made by Continental trucks and the Japanese Hino (which has made very big inroads indeed), the Republic is still one of the largest markets for British vehicles.
All the familiar names are in use on the roads of Eire, from ER F to Ford, from Leyland to Bedford, from Dennis to Guy.
So we went over the sea to look at how they're being employed, and how they're measuring up with Irish operators. 1p— Paul Mungo