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we draw ever nearer to e year 2000, it's hard to ind optimistic hauliers.
hat do they hope for in e final year of the econd millennium?
end Newman hared a crystal all with perators round the FUTURE LEGISLATION
The Government's white paper A New Deal for Transport: Better for Everyone cites making better use of existing road capacity as a key priority. It also reports that the Highways Agency is developing a "toolkir of techniques, including variable speed limits, controlled access to motorways and priority for trucks and buses.
The EC says the 48-hour week will apply to all road transport employees including drivers, but the FTA aims to inject some practical thinking into the implementation of the working time rules— particularly when it comes to night working and in-company agreements.
John Prescott has announced two road-toll pilot projects; one in England, the other in Scotland. Both schemes will cover motorways as well as urban roads. The Government has also confirmed that legislation could be introduced in the next parliamentary session empowering an elected mayor of London to impose road tolls in the capital.
At the start of the closing year of the millennium, British operators could be forgiven for feeling persecuted as they watch their European counterparts running on cheaper fuel and paying lower taxes. In November European Union Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock backed calls from UK hauliers for fuel tax and VED to be reduced in line with other EU countries. "Until that happens the UK hauliers will continue to bear the burden to the disadvantage of themselves and to the economy," he said.
Meanwhile, international hauliers are setting up abroad to avoid the British tax burden—and the Freight Transport Association doesn't blame them. "Large hikes in duty, particularly for new heavyweight artic., could tip the balance toward continental registration," says a spokesman.
Flagging out
The prospect of flagging out is something that is beginning to appeal to Alan Reason, managing director of Jed Reason in Coventry which runs 25 artics on general haulage and distribution.
"We could either go to Dublin or Luxembourg, MoT the vehicles there and knock it in half," he says. "It's a colossal amount of difference between taxing a vehicle here and on the Continent—they can come in here and do jobs a damn site cheaper than we can I've seen it quoted that they can come across and do it for 65p a mile."
And Reason stresses that it's not just the unfair tax regime which is going to make this year as tough as last year: "This year is going to be harder than most," he says. 'We've noticed that volumes are dropping and a lot of the big companies are looking at making cost reductions. And there's pressure on the smaller haulier from the larger companies. We do a lot of work for the motor industry and they are always saying 'cost down' and J say 'get stuffed—we need cost up, not cost down'."
Raw materials
Eddie Storr is also coming under pressure from the multinationals. He's transport manager of Patterson Bulk Liquids in Yorkshire, which runs 56 tankers.
It's at the mercy of the big supermarket chains, which are continually looking for cuts: "The suppliers of raw materials into the big bakeries are looking for a 30% reduction no matter how they get it," he says. "God knows how we are going to achieve that when we are constantly hammered with fuel increases. But they are supermarket driven and we are all being sweated to the wall. The supermarkets have the big stick and are wielding it over their suppliers—and they have the upper hand."
• Despite this Storr remains stoical. "We have to look a little bit on the buoyant side or we will all have to just crawl under the carpet and die," he quips. "It's just going to be a matter of ticking over this year."
Storr is also concerned that some of his customers are considering taking the 41-tonne option, which he sees as a bit of a jump in the • dark. "We're in a bit of a mixed situation there, particularly as we have no idea what the VED is going to be," he points out. "We can surmise the costings but that doesn't help us in quoting for traffic in the new year."
John Bell, owner of Kibic Transport, has no doubt that 41-tonners will just cost him money He runs four Daf 85 triaxles on traction duty out of Hull docks. "I don't see that we will get paid an increase for the 41 tonnes," he says. "I think it will be just another straw on the camel's back. We'll have to go into 41-tonners with the work that we do, but we'll notice the difference in diesel once we're running with another three tonnes on."
Bigger operators
Bell is not optimistic about the prospects for the new year and fears that things are going to get worse before they begin to get better. 'There's always pressure on rates," he says. "If you don't do the job there's always someone else who will." He blames the bigger operators for keeping rates low. "The big hauliers have an advantage over us because they have a buying power that is so much greater," he points out.
But, like most hauliers, Bell is no quitter. "I've lived with it for a long, long time now," he says. "We've been through some tight times and you just have to hang on in there; make sure that you're financially viable and that you can stick it out until the good times come back, because they will...it's just a matter of when," Down south Mick Robins, owner of Robins of Herstmonceux, runs six eightleggers carrying crushed con• crete, agricultural lime, aggregates and topsoil. He's well used to operating on tight margins and doesn't expect 1999 to bring any relief: 'I think it's going to be a bad year again, like the last one. Last year has just been a tickover for everybody." He too is suffering at the hands of large hauliers who can undercut his rates. "On the crushed concrete side we have got some big operators around here," he says, "and I don't know how they run at the prices they charge. I think they must run their lorries on coal, it's just unbelievable. We work the mileage rates out and then someone knocks us down—not by just 20p a tonne but in some instances by £1. Ifs crazy, but I think it's just desperation. They've got all their payments to keep up and a lot of them are running on a shoestring really, as big as they are."
But Robins remains cheerful in the face of adversity and has no intention of letting the situation drive him under: "As far as this year is
concerned I always look forward to a challenge, and it's certainly going to be that! We are going to keep going we're a family firm and if we can't survive I don't think anybody can."
Silver lining
Up in Liverpool Steve Sheldon, operations manager of John Mason International, fears the current talk of recession could be a selfperpetuating prophecy. The company specialises in removals to the Continent with a fleet of 14, vehicles including six 32-tonne drawbars. "My concern is that people are talking themselves into a recession," he says. "At the moment we're not seeing it because every cloud has a silver lining and if they talk about a recession in the UK then more people think about going abroad."
However, the difference in fuel costs between the UK and the Continent is something Sheldon would like to see eliminated this year. "We're very unhappy about the tax of fuel at the moment," he says. "We, like a lot of other European hauliers at the moment, are
fuelling in Europe and not in the UK whenever we can. It's a bit of a nonsense."
So this year, with the Euro now a reality on the Continent and pressure mounting for the harmonisation of taxes across the EU, UK hauliers can look forward to an increasingly unfair tax burden compounded by shrinking margins. The FIA sums it up bluntly: "1999 will be tough for everybody in transport."