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IRHA voices concerns over transport manager changes
Page 12
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VINCENT CAULFIELD, the president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), has expressed concerns over the Irish government's decision to allow transport managers to work for several haulage companies on a part-time basis.
He says the Department of Transport (DoT) in the Republic of Ireland failed to clearly define the new role when it introduced the policy change for transport managers earlier this month.
Previously, all haulage firms had to employ a full-time transport manager, but this decision means companies running fewer than 50 vehicles can now employ one part-time to cut operational costs. The change also means transport managers can oversee up to four different road transport firms.
Irish transport minister Noel Dempsey says: 'The existing policy was proving very restrictive for smaller operators in particular, who only needed a part-time manager to run their company in a safe and satisfactory manner.
The current market conditions are challenging for operators, and this is an effort to help ease some of their cost burdens while not compromising on any industry standards."
However. Caulfield says the government has not thought the policy change through.
He continues: "When this was brought in, the obligations of transport managers should have been clearly defined, because they are not. It wasn't the best way it could have been done.
"Their thinking was to make it easier for firms with smaller numbers of vehicles to get a transport manager to fulfil a role.
But I don't think there was any difficulty. We will have further talks with them to define the role of the transport manager and their obligations."
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokeswoman in the UK says UK-based transport managers can work across a number of companies, hut it's up to the Traffic Commissioners (TCs) to decide how many vehicles they should be in charge of.
She adds: "The Road Transport Package was agreed by the commission and member states this week. The UK will be implementing the new measure over the next two years to meet the requirements.