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DIESEL DEATH?

9th August 1990, Page 5
9th August 1990
Page 5
Page 5, 9th August 1990 — DIESEL DEATH?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• Rising interest rates, customers paying less, slumping truck sales and transport firms going out of business. What, hauliers might have asked themselves a week or so ago, could possibly get worse?

Then, thousands of kilometres away, Saddam Hussein invades his helpless neighbour Kuwait, oil supplies are threatened, markets panic and the price of diesel rockets 17%.

The Road Haulage Association hopes customers will recognise the situation is out of operators' control and that they will renegotiate long-term, fixed rates. Fat chance!

Sir James Duncan, chairman of the Transport Development Group, is more realistic. Speaking on Tuesday, he said increased fuel costs would have to be passed on to the customer. But what if the customer won't pay?

All that hauliers can hope for is a quick solution to that Kuwait conflict and a drop in dery prices. But, it's almost guaranteed that when that happens the oil companies will be slower in cuffing their pump prices than they were in increasing them when the crisis blew up.