Hauliers losing battle
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NEARLY HALF of Britain's hauliers will turn in losses in 1982, according to an ICC Business Ratios report on 100 leading British haulage companies.
The report covers the threeyear period to April 1981, and forecasts that the companies' average profit margin for this year will have dropped to 1.5 per cent, with nearly one in two hauliers reporting 1982 losses.
It anticipates that there will be some scope for recovery in 1982/83, as interest rates drop and business recovers, but this will be limited by the continued ease of entry to the industry. The best opportunities, it predicts, will be for larger operators to expand their contract hire and leasing businesses.
But the report warns that the industry will be unable to reap the full benefits of new technology and any switch to higher gross weight limits if it does not increase efficiency and reduce empty running.
It accepts that there is considerable mistrust between hauliers and clearing houses, but suggests that smaller operators could sink their differences by operating commonly owned clearing houses.
ICC points out that three
medium-to-large companies, Wincanton Transport (25 per cent growth), P&O Roadways (29 per cent), and Inter County Express (62 per cent), are among the fastest growing, but each company's margins declined over the three-year period.
The report is available for £112 from ICC Business Ratios, 23 City Road, London, EC1Y *IAA.