Report slams UK hauliers
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• Britain's hauliers are criticised for inefficiency in two new reports on the British road haulage industry by ICC Business Ratios.
The reports, Road Hauliers — Major, and Road Haulage — Intermediate, says: "The British road haulage industry is operating inefficiently and is falling prey to high cost."
Average profit margins in the industry for 1985/6 stood at 3.5%, down from 4% the year before, and the average return on capital in 1985/6 stood at 9.8%, down from 11.5%.
ICC says: "Running costs are extremely high in this business, and have spiralled in the three years covered by the reports."
"Fleet replacement is expensive, and borrowing money has become risky. There is poor co-ordination of routes by hauliers and any regular motorway traveller will have noticed the number of empty or part-filled lorries crossing the country — a measure of the inadequacy of the system used by most road haulage firms."
The reports conclude that "improved profit margins will only result from major reco
• ordination plans and more efficiently controlled fleets. In the immediate future major improvement cannot be anticipated until new strategies exploit the potential of a company's fleet of vehicles."