UK operators turn to Belgian diesel outlet
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• Operators avoiding crippling UK diesel prices are fuelling expansion of a Belgian haulier that is extending its dieselretailing operation into France.
UK hauliers are buying hundreds of thousands of litres of diesel a month at the Veurne site in Belgium which is encouraging its parent company Mattheeuws Eric Transport NV—also the owner of Dover haulier Eric Mattheeuws UK—to set up two more centres.
Owner Eric Mattheeuws says that within two months, he will be selling diesel at a newly constructed site at Ostende, with further premises at Calais opening within a year "The fuel escalator gave us the opportunity, as a foreigner, to go to the UK haulage industry," says Mattheeuws.
The Veurne outlet is selling diesel at around Up a litre, Including VAT and fuel duty, but only to hauliers which can provide a bank guarantee that they can pay their bills. In the UK hauliers are paying a comparable average bunker price of around 69p.
UK hauliers are purchasing about 90% of the 500,000 litres sold each month at Veurne while Mattheeuws' own 25 Belgian and UK-based vehicles are taking another 100,000 litres.
In a further move to maximise his finances, Mattheeuws has switched the geographical balance of his fleet in the last year so that only seven vehicles remain registered at the Sandwich, Dover depot.
Mattheeuws is thought to be one of the first hauliers to cash in on the high prices inflicted on UK hauliers by the fuel escalator-a 6% plus inflation rise in fuel duty each year.