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Hauliers refuse to foot /301 search bills at Portsmouth
Page 6
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• by Miles Brignall A row has broken out over who should pay for trucks to be manually unloaded for searches by Customs officers at Portsmouth docks.
Hauliers currently have to pay stevedore companies when Customs officials at the port demand that their cargoes are removed as part of a search for drugs or other illegal goods. No other port charges hauliers in this way.
At a meeting last week between all the interested parties it was suggested that a 21 surcharge should be added to every ferry ticket to pay for future searches. The Road Haulage Association and Customs both backed the plan, but according to the RHA's Mike Freeman it was opposed by the ferry companies which claimed their larger haulier clients would not support it.
"In an ideal world Customs would pay these charges, which often amount to as much as 2300," he says. "But as we all know it is almost impossible to get the Treasury to pay for anything these days. A 21 charge or ferry tickets would spread the risk between every operator using the port—for some reason the ferry companies won't play bali."
A spokesman for Brittany Ferries says that after much consultation it believes the Port Authorities should pay the search fees "as happens at other ports".
A deal will have to be found soon because the number of checks and turnouts is due to rise significantly. The port has recently installed a new scanner and Customs predicts that the number of vehicle checks will rise by 40%.
Freeman warns that unless a deal is done small operators will be forced to Use other ports: "You don't have to get charged 2300 more than a couple of times before you start thinking you'll use another port—we don't really care who pays as long as it's not the haulier" However, Alex Romein says his company will have to use Portsmouth no matter what charges are introduced. He is transport manager at Northern Irish firm Towmac Transport, which had a truck detained at Portsmouth for more than 24 hours while Customs searched its load of onions (CM10-16 Jan).
"We are not in a position to avoid that port as a lot of our traffic is Spanish," he explains. "Unfortunately I am stuck with Portsmouth... we will just have to grin and bear it."