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Transport costs must be kept down
Page 31
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THE ATTRACTIONS of using the railways to move bulk loads should not be allowed to over-tide the needs to keep transport costs down says the Freight Transport Association this week.
Commenting on the Verney Report on bulk loads for industry, the ETA says there must be flexibility in transport services — and industry must not suffer to suit the providers of transport.
The report is in favour of using rail as the prime means of moving bulk loads but the FTA says that the present trend towards larger and fewer railheads for bulk is going to lead to additional road transport being heeded.
British Rail should exploit its advantages in the bulk field by negotiating contracts that mean an equal taking of risks in the transport business.
"Efficient movement of bulk flows of traffic are dependent on significant investment by the transport user. Boards of companies will be reluctant to sanction such investment in a situation where confidence has been undermined through frequent and substantial rate increases," says the FTA.
It says that proposals in the Government's Green Paper on Transport that road transport should be made artificially more expensive to allow rail freight to be priced up were likely to send companies back to the roads.