Rates hit by beef crisis
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• Hauliers across the country say the beef crisis may be lowering rates in other sectors as meat hauliers chase new work rather than parking up vehicles.
Sub-contracted tractive work is thought to be most at risk, as depot-bound meat hauliers attempt to break into other sectors.
There is already evidence that rates for the movement of containers are falling in Scotland as desperate operators cut their rates.
Operators at the Road Haulage Association's Scottish Regional Conference at the weekend said they were worried by future job losses in the beef carrying sector and felt it was only a matter of time before it starts to have a knock-on effect in other sectors.
Scottish RHA director Wylie Cunningham says his members are still very unhappy at Government inaction. He hopes a forthcoming report by accountants Coopers & Lybrand, auditing the number of companies affected by the export ban on beef, will highlight the hauliers' plight.
Thomas Gibb (Fraserburgh) runs some of its 16 trucks on beef work.
James Gibb says: "Rates were already under pressure before the beef crisis, and recent developments are only going to make matters worse."