Fuel escalator hits ports
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A Teesside port operator is blaming the fuel duty escalator for a downturn in its haulage business. Ports and engineering group Powell Duffryn says hauliers are driving to Dover or using the Channel Tunnel so they can fill up with cheap diesel.
The company's ferry traffic fell by 596 in the first half of this year. Chief executive Barry Hartiss says: "Freight RO-F10 did not sustain its previous growth as the haulage industry responded to higher UK diesel duty by switching vehicles onto the shorter driver-accompanied crossings to gain access to cheaper fuel.''
Hartiss adds that the Chancellor did not go far enough when he abandoned the fuel duty escalator.
"Mr Brown should realise that rather than reduce the miles run by trucks, he's actually increasing them," he concludes. "His policies are actually being completely counter-productive."