Tipper rates are rising
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by Amanda Bradbury
• Contract-hire companies are enjoying a rush as owner-drivers and small operators re-enter the market to fill an acute shortage of six and eight-wheel tippers and mixers in construction, waste and spoil removal.
Utilities and municipal contractors are also fuelling an average doubling in enquiries about hired tippers and this has fed through to manufacturers who were reporting increased activity at TipCon earlier this month.
But average contract terms are shorter than they were before the recession— down from more than a year to a matter of months—as operators remain unsure of long-term recovery.
This insecurity has ensured that rates have largely remained flat until now: but some larger oper ators with their own fleets admit that they could be forced to pay an increase during the next few weeks if demand continues. One North-East operator with 30 eight-wheelers says a shortage over the past three months means rates in his area have increased 10% over that time.
The next areas to benefit could be Manchester, where there is a reported shortage of rigids, and in Yorkshire, where more sixwheelers are needed to move spoil on Al roadworks south of Catterick.
Large areas of the country, including London and the South-east, the Midlands, the North and Scotland, report no such increase but one South-east operator reports an acute shortage of eight-wheelers in the northern Home Counties and says rates are set to rise there.