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US-based 011ie Dixon reports on the effect the credit crunch
Page 9
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is having on UK haulage and what it needs to do to survive.
These are wonderful
times if one leans towards pessimism. Oil flickers around $120 a barrel, people seem reluctant to spend money and a fair percentage of news stories in the trade press concern companies going under. That Innovate Logistics saw fit to release a press release to the effect that it isn't about to go to the wall is indicative of the problem: hold the front page, company still in business etc' suggests there is a nervousness about the transport industry today that runs very deep indeed.
Since it is linked so closely to the economy as a whole, transport is used to feast and famine. But, somehow, this one feels different. And it is different. If this is a recession, then it would seem to be one born out of global as opposed to regional issues — and while the net result is the same, the way that the industry has to approach and manage it must surely be different.
What happens next remains to be seen. Long-established and apparently well-run companies are going out of business, and this is symptomatic of a problem that runs fairly deep. But one of the core problems that exists within the UK is that of pricing. Leaving aside the question of foreign competition, until UK-based hauliers are in a position to name a price for a job that allows them to make a living, the future will be bleak irrespective of the state of the economy. Too many trucks are being operated by charities as opposed to businesses, and, if you give a customer an inch, he will invariably take a mile.
Whatever business we're in, we're in it for the simple things. The ability to pay the gas bill, for example. Companies that operate with no mind to profit will go out of business, and, ultimately, they deserve to. But when those same companies screw the job up for everyone else, that becomes a problem. It seems odd to suggest that now would be a good time to hike prices, but it is. Will it happen? Of course not. Would it work? I don't know, but, sadly, there are not that many options left open to the UK road transport business.