Customers more willing to look at rates, says TDG
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• Because of increasing demand for haulage, customers have been more willing than in the past to consider rate adjustments, says the annual report of the Transport Development Group. But, it adds, recovery of inflexibly rising costs remains a problem".
The group — as recorded last week — made a record profit of £8.9mbefore tax in 1972. On the transport side, specialized and long-distance haulage produced good results, but local fleets faced increasing competition from ownerdrivers who "often have inadequate facilities and a disregard of the niceties of road traffic legislation".
Many of the haulage managements within TDG are replacing vehicles earlier, resulting in reduced maintenance costs, increased productivity and helping to retain drivers.
The group is concerned about the continuing shortage of skilled drivers and says this has recently been accentuated by an unexpectedly high failure rate of drivers taking the hgv test.
New customers are being sought in the UK by TDG companies to improve the balance of international traffic, while Britain's accession to the EEC has led the group to set about increasing the pace of its expansion in the Community.
The storage activities of the TDG are buoyant and facilities have been extended; 34 per cent of the company's profit before tax was attributable to storage, 49 per cent to road transport.