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Cowed by regulation?
Page 22
Page 23
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Livestock hauliers believe their businesses will collapse if European proposals are given the go-ahead. Emma Penny reports.
Anyone involved in hauling livestock must be wondering exactly what they have done to deserve a third potential body-blow within the last decade. First it was BSE, then foot-and-mouth, and now new European proposals threaten to burden them with even higher costs; consequently many are wondering if their businesses can survive.
Under the proposals, hauliers would be forced to carry fewer animals in each load, maximum journey time would be nine hours before a 12-hour rest is enforced, and in cases where journeys are more than nine hours, trucks would have to be fitted with forced ventilation.
And that's only the start; there's far more to these proposals than anyone realises. warns Eddie Harper, chairman of the Road Haulage Association's livestock transport group.
Harper-along with the RHA's Roger Wrapson will be representing the UK when the European Livestock Transporters Association travels to Brussels on 29 September to lobby MEPs and Ministers on the proposals.
Once again it's a small minority, largely outside the British isles, that have been flouting the current rules. Harper says that as a result, animal welfare groups are putting massive pressure on the Commission to strengthen regulationshence the proposals.
"The EC says that about 5% of livestock hauliers are doing it wrong, but why do the other 95% doing it right -have to suffer?
"We have seen some terrible footage of horses being carted from former Eastern Bloc countries to Italy for slaughter. The EU has done nothing about it -it should be hammering these people. It also has only two inspectors for the whole of Europe."
Fleet upgrades
So as a result of a small minority, hauliers taking animals on journeys of more than nine hours will be faced with the costs of upgrading their fleet as well as escalating driver costs.
And while Britain is a fairly small island, there are a significant number of hauliers doing journeys of nine hours or more.
Take Armstrongs of Longtown in Cumbria, which transports 30,000-50,000 sheep a week many on journeys of nine hours or more. Director Derek Armstrong says the need for longjourneys was caused by the EU in the first place;its tough abattoir regulations have meant many in the UK have closed, forcing farmers to send animals over longer distances for slaughter. Where there were once 1,200 abattoirs in the UK, there are now fewer than 200.
"We take many sheep to abattoirs in Merthyr Tydfil, Lainpeter and Launceston they need lambs throughout the year, so they have to bring them in from elsewhere."
And in the north of Scotland, many sheep and cattle are sent from sales on the islands to be fattened up on the mainland. This means journeys are frequently more than nine hours, says Joe Beedie, whose Fraserburgh-based firm Beedie Bros runs six trucks.
"We do a lot of work from the islands such as Islay and Mull, and we take sheep off South Uist they spend nine hours on a boat before they get to Oban. Then it's about six hours from Oban to Aberdeen and it might be up to three hours before I've finished the drops." he says.
Beedie also queries the EC's demand for livestock to have a 12-hour rest while the driver only requires nine hours. "What with that and the Working Time Directive,it's ridiculous.We'll have to charge a lot more, and it's difficult to get more money out of farmers!"
Puzzling decision
Harper, too, says he's puzzled at the EC's decision to opt for the nine hour/12 hour split. "In 1995, the EC produced scientific evidence that animals could travel for much longer but that seems to have gone out of the window" He says the RHA will be lobbying hard for the proposals to be changed as will some European states. Holland is none to keen on the restrictions, as a high proportion of its pigs travel to Spain. while Spain is also averse to the proposals as its cattle are sent to Italy for slaughter.
One solution, which will be presented to the EU on 29 September, is that all livestock vehicles should be fitted with satellite tracking. Then loads could be accurately tracked, identifying where journeys are breaking current rules -which would work well, if only the EU would enforce them.
But Harper is worried that it's all gone too far to be changed:"We've tried lobbying for exemptions. but I don't think there's much chance the proposals will become more sensible.
"One of the main problems is that member states don't want to be flooded with livestock when new states join the EU,and the nine-hour limit will stop that.There's a lot of politics involved."
lithe proposals are adopted. Wrapson believes they will drive some hauliers out of business. "A lot of animal movements won't take place as it just won't be economic. And if hauliers have to buy uprated vehicles they'll need to work them hard, but the travellrest time just won't allow them to do it."
The last word goes to Armstrong, who believes that if the proposals are adopted, there will be public outcry: "When the public see loads of live animals parked up at service stations for 12 hours at a time, it'll hit home. And I think that, while major hauliers will fight on, smaller ones may just close up.•