Irish to lose State fleet?
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IRELAND could lose its state-owned road haulage fleet, if a major report on the future of Coras lompair Eireann (see p22) is implemented.
In a report which advocates the division of the semi-state transport company into three new companies, McKinsey International Inc proposes that the CIE road freight operations be closed down at the same time as the rail sundries freight service is discontinued.
CIE's total freight business amounts only to about seven per cent of all freight moved in Ire land, and the road freight operation recorded a deficit of I r£688,000 (£516,000) in 1979.
The fleet, some of it fairly upto-date and including a large number of Detroit Diesel-engined Bedford TMs, comprises 340 tractive units, 236 rigid lorries, and 72 vans, most of the vans being used for a national newspaper delivery contract.
Around 75 per cent of the company's road freight activity is centred around railheads, and McKinsey points out that the growth of road freight has helped diminish the worth of a rail freight service in Ireland.
Defending the continued existence of CIE, general manager John Higgins said last week that the Irish Government should consider establishing a National Freight Agency, and that it should increase co-operation with private road freight operators.
Transport Minister Albert Reynolds said last week that no decision would be taken on McKinsey's haulage proposals until the Transport Consultative Commission has reported on the Irish haulage industry.