UK hauliers losing
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• Britain's boom economy hauliers are among the worst paid in Europe, next only to Greece — but this will mean a surge in business for our international operators looking to cabotage after 1992, a leading transport consultant predicts.
Germans and Italians, wellrewarded at home, will be less likely to look for extra work here, while Britons could be paid twice or three times as much per load in Germany as they are here, says Jeronimo Maeso of JM International Freight Consultants.
A German haulier earns ab: out 2750 for taking a 20-tonne load 500km; in Britain the corn parative rate is only 2320. Even Spain and Portugal, among the poorest economies in Western Europe, pay more. A Spaniard gets around 2180 ' for a 20-tonne/100km trip; in Britain, the same contract would pay only 2120.
Britain's rates are low because the industry is the least regulated in the European Community. Hauliers in Italy, France and particularly Germany face a maze of regulations and quotas. Consequently, it is easier to get an operator's licence in the UK and there are many more hauliers here competing for each load, says Maeso in a new report.