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More UK trucks cross Channel but share falls
Page 20
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More UK operators are carrying out Continental haulage so are they beating their foreign
nvals? Jennifer Ball reports.
For the first time in two years the number of UK-registered trucks travelling to mainland Europe has risen. The latest Department for Transport figures reveal that the total number of vehicles travelling to the Continent rose by 3% between the first and second quarters of 2004, to a total of 673,000.
The number of UK-registered vehicles making the crossing also rose 3%, to 122,000.
But while it may appear that UK operators are fighting back against foreign competition it isn't all good news: the number of foreign vehicles crossing the Channel has soared to 347,000 —a 6% rise from the same quarter of 2003, highlighting the fact that the UK's international operators continue to be squeezed out of the market by foreign competition.
UK loses market share In addition, UK operators continue to lose market share. While the total number of trucks travelling to the Continent has jumped 103% over the past 15 years, the proportion of UK operators handling international work has plummeted from 43% in 1989 to just 25% in 2003. Only 25% of the trucks crossing to the Continent are UK-registered.
Martyn Moseley, MD of Olton International Freight, warns that UK operators continue to face an uphill struggle against their Continental counterparts: "The foreign operators are corn ing over here on a fixed rate, which pays their living so any return load is a bonus. Even UK companies are using more foreign operators to take their goods abroad because it is cheaper as they can do it for backload rates.
"We simply can't compete with rates of £200 from Coventry to Cologne.The government is doing nothing to help us, increasing fuel duty and rising taxes — foreign operators have to pay nothing over here."
He believes the increase in UK operators going abroad is a smokescreen for those operators 'puddle jumping': "I don't believe it provides a true reflection of the market and refers to UK operators taking a local international job to Dunkirk or Calais for a cheap rate, getting a reasonable rate for the load back, but making up the money by filling up with cheap diesel on the Continent."
Foreigners cause fleet cut Gary Collar trom Bognor Regis-based Gary Collar Haulage has downsized from 12 to two trucks."The y can run for next to nothing and we simply can't afford to compete. Our fuel is too expensive, insurance costs are rising and our road tax has gone up, he says.
"Foreign operators should be forced to pay a charge as soon as they get off the ferry, the same as we have to when we go abroad. In Belgium you have to pay £4.20 a day vignette and if you are caught without it there's an instant £240 fine," he adds.
The Freight Transport Association says slow economic growth on the Continent has undermined the competitiveness of UK international operators for the past three years,weakening the export market from the UK to the Euro zone. Unfortunately, respondents to its latest Quarterly Transport Activity Survey predict activity levels will fall in the third quarter of 2004. Ill