Haulage Rates Up 5 per cent—and 10 per cent for Meat
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AN increase of 5 per cent in haulage rates from September 1 was recommended by the rates and carriers' liability committee of the Road Haulage Association last week. The committee stated that for carriers of certain specialized traffics the increase would have to be greater.
The last rates increase was the 5 Per cent, which came into effect on June 1 last year. Since then, said the committee, costs had r;sen substantially and reports from all over-the country indicated that hauliers could no longer continue to absorb these increases without hardship and loss of efficiency.
The National Conference of Road Transport Clearing Houses followed suit, recommending members to raise rates by 5 per cent from September 1, and to negotiate for special traffics separately. The "certain specialized traffics" referred to by the R.H.A. rates committee will include meat moved in bulk by the London heavy meat hauliers, who are putting up their rates by 10 per cent from August 1. This was agreed, on the day after the R.H.A. rates meeting, at a council meeting of the Wholesale Meat and Provisions Transport Association (which is now affiliated to the R.H.A.).
The 10 per cent increase will also be applied by B.R.S. (Meat Haulage) Ltd. but the B.R.S. general haulage rate is not affected by the 5 per cent recommended rise for normal traffics. B.R.S. said last week that they had been negotiating new rates with customers over the past two months or so.
The W.M.P.T.A. chairman (who is also chairman of the R.H.A. meat functional group) is Mr. E. J. Booth of R. Cornell Ltd., who told The Commercial Motor this week that the London meat hauliers did not implement the 5 per cent increase recommended last year and in fact had not had a rates increase for well over two years. Yet there had been two substantial wage increases, apart from other rises in costs, in that period; also, the amount of meat coming into the country was declining, yet hauliers had to keep their fleets up to strength to meet peak demands.
The meat hauliers were reluctant to make the increase, said Mr. Booth, but it was amply justified and was now inevitable.
It is understood that some of the meat hauliers had hoped for specific mention of their need for higher rates in the published decision of the R.H.A. rates committee; in this they were disappointed.
The 10 per cent rise will apply only to London bulk meat carriers (e.g., from docks to wholesalers or markets) and will not apply to provincial hauliers; it will not affect the " light " meat carriers, making retailer deliveries from markets, who implemented a 7+ per cent increase earlier this year.