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Local drivers' opinions:
Page 29
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You can't make a living here like you used to. People are getting up earlier and earlier in the morning just to beat the queues. For 8am deliveries, some are coming in at 4.30am.
"In my opinion the port did it the wrong way round... it took on more work without having the space, machines and manpower. At times the trucks are queuing in 14 lanes with eight wagons per lane. Once that's full they direct you to a waiting area down the road.
"I've worked here for 20 years and can say that in the past year it has gone really downhill. A reasonable turnaround would be 45 minutes, but it often takes around 31/2 hours
two on a good day. Every haulage company is at a disadvantage no haulier is benef iting at the moment."
A second driver adds: "The past six months it has been a lot worse, but I can't say exactly why. When boats come in, the wagons just grind to a halt. This is down to manpower if you get more than one boat in at a time it's really bad. There's a rumour around that there's a shortage of straddler drivers. But they don't really tell us anything."
This driver also highlighted the shift change problems "Between 1.40pm and 2.20pm nothing really moves."