Truck rental sector set for billion pound MoD bonanza
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• The Ministry of Defence has confirmed plans to introduce vehicle leasing and contract hire in a move which could be worth up to Clbn a year to the truck rental sector. The fleet management changes are part of the Front Line First review of military spending unveiled by defence secretary Malcolm Rif kind last week. The MoD expects to save £220m over the next 10 years; experts say opportunities for the private sector to lease trucks will open "gradually". Main points of the review include:
• Introducing leasing, contract hire, contract maintenance and vehicle pooling;
• Extending the in-service lives of existing MoD vehicles; • A pilot scheme to look at further improvements in fleet management; • More market-testing of maintenance and repair facilities;
• Rationalising fleet distribution into a single organisation, probably managed by the Army. This would be subject to market testing.
An MoD spokesman says leasing and contract hire would apply first to 28,500 administrative vehicles such as cars and minibuses. Defence chiefs will then look at the possibility of extending the system to 66,500 operational vehicles including trucks and trailers. A source close to the MoD says the changes are likely to be phased in gradually as the MoD aims to get maximum value from its existing vehicles.