Irish cabotage row
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NORTHERN IRISH hauliers' cabotage disagreements with the Irish Republic (CM October 8) are far from settled, according to the Northern Ireland Road Transport Association.
RTA secretary Stanley Martin told CM that the impression of a resolution which emerged after last month's bilateral negotiations between the British and Irish Government was false, and that operators are still unhappy with the situation.
The Republic revenue commissioners had said that Ulster operators crossing the border, then detaching a semi-trailer and returning to collect it the following morning, are guilty of cabotage.
The general understanding about cabotage, which is illegal in the EEC, is that lorries undertake it when they collect and deliver goods in a country other than their own.
The Republic authorities, who are understood to have been under pressure from their national hauliers, added to the complication by seizing the "offending" Ulster tractive units and de mending fines before they were returned.
Mr Martin told CM that discussions between the revenue commissioners and the NI Department of the Environment had secured an assurance that Ulster operators could detach semitrailers overnight, provided they returned the following day with the same tractive unit.
But this is unsatisfactory, according to the RTA, as breakdowns demand that a different vehicle be sent to carry on the delivery. "It matters little what vehicle is being used, as we are not taking any business away from Republic hauliers," Mr Martin added.
Indeed, Republic hauliers regularly return south overnight to return north with different tractive units to complete journeys into Northern Ireland, and the Ulster authorities do not consider that to be cabotage. Mr Martin said there was no question of his association calling for retaliatory action.
He described the Republic's interpretation of the cabotage rules as a "farce" — a means of securing additional revenue. He promised that the RTA would continue to press for early resolution of the problem.
. If no progress is apparent after two weeks, the RTA will apply more pressure on the revenue commissioners, he said.