Tourists edge out lorries
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LORRY TRAFFIC takes second place to tourist traffic on some ro-ro ferry routes, a West German haulage executive told delegates at the Ro-Ro 83 conference at Gothenburg. Sweden last week.
A wide-ranging survey of ro-ro traffic from the international haulier's viewpoint was given by Dr Erwin Bauer, a lawyer on the staff of the BDF, the West German hauliers' association.
Despite the many problems encountered by this traffic, including different national weight limits and unduly rigid social legislation, he foresaw a continuing growth in ro-ro traffic, and in particular its substantial expansion in the Mediterranean to ports in the Middle East and North Africa.
He thought that, when the political situation in the Near East was more settled, the region would see a marked expansion of the few existing ro-ro services. He claimed that the ports involved had already identified the trend, and were making plans to deal with it.
He admitted that not all ferry companies at present operating in the Mediterranean paid enough attention to providing their customers with a good service, and gave North Sea and Channel ferry operators an unusual pat on the back, saying that they had "built themselves a perfect reputation".
He concentrated his criticisms especially on nationalistic restrictions by Governments, singling out for particular mention those countries which would only allow foreign semitrailers to be hauled in their territory by tractive units registered in that country.