Do we need any help?
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
In response to our story on page 1 this week, where an operator announces his closure on Twitter I'm going to play devil's advocate — so bear with me.
In the haulage industry one thing is constant, and that's the complaint that the government does nothing to help it.
True enough, but that rather begs the question: why should it? Either we live in a free-market economy or we don't. Why should we constantly Look to the government to offer a Veline every time the haulage industry struggles?
Critics of this laissez-faire approach point to the government's bail-out of the banking industry and argue that if we saved that industry from the destruction that it brought on itself, we can do the same for haulage.
However, this is a flawed comparison: the banking industry was rescued, not to Preserve bank profits or shareholder value, but simply to stop the economy from
complete melt-down. Road transport, for all importance, does not fall into the same category.
Whether we Like it or not there is still over-capacity in the sector and we should expect more closures and mergers as this correction takes place.
No one wants to see job losses and drivers out of work, but the fact remains there are still too many hauliers, chasing too little work at unsustainable rates. Alla cut in fuel duty would do, for instance, is lower -ates still further as customers demanded that cut was passed on. That s necessary correction would be postponed. Equally this dog-eat-dog world is capitalism writ large: this may not seem kind or fair, but that misses the point it's just business.
Dominic Perry