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Why the fuss?
Page 9
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Mr X believes the issue of cabotage is distracting the industry from the real problems it faces. So are those foreign hordes a figment of operators' fevered imagination?
Cabolage, cabotage, cabotage. It seems to be the trade associations new favourite word, judging by the volume of their press releases on the subject. In fact you could be forgiven for thinking that the issue of fuel had rather been forgotten of late, with the focus shifting to the Continental hordes flooding into the country to poach work from our hardworking hauliers.
Piffle. And In case you didn't catch that, I'll say it again: piffle.
Cabotage is a tiny ripple on the haulage pond.
The amount of work being lost to cabotage is still below 3%. Even if, as the Freight Transport Association suggests, this figure is distorted by the inclusion of work such as refuse collection within the definition of haulage, the percentage will not rise much above the 5% mark.
"No one in their right mind condones dangerous trucks or illegal work, but to complain about market forces is futile"
The effect, at least according the trade associations' own research, is also incredibly regionalised, with the effect most keenly felt near the ports. In fact. you could refine this further and suggest that the impact is sector-specific, with container hauliers hit the hardest.
So what, you might feel entitled to ask, is all the fuss about?
Yes, we've all heard tales about so and so losing work to a Polish/Czech/Dutch (delete as applicable) haulier, or rates that are rock bottom, but where's the hard evidence? Even last year's Burns Report failed to dredge up many examples outside the areas previously mentioned.
No-one in the!' right mind condones illegal work or foreign trucks operating in a dangerous condition, but to complain about market forces, which is what are at work here, is somewhat futile. Although some would point to high fuel costs as a distortion of the market, you have to accept that even without this advantage, operators from Eastern Europe would be able to do the job cheaper.
The only solution is for UK hauliers to do it better.