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When East meets West
Page 18
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Operators from across Europe gathered in Warsaw recently to discuss the possible effect of European Union enlargement on
the road transport industry. Jennifer Ball reports.
n 1 May this year Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Cyprus all joined the EU, giving their citizens the right to work and provide services in any EU country. Many UK operators believe that this will lead to a greater influx of foreign drivers coming to work in the UK as our wages are far greater — on average a Polish driver earns €600 a month, compared with around €2,490 a month in the UK.
n 1 May this year Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Cyprus all joined the EU, giving their citizens the right to work and provide services in any EU country. Many UK operators believe that this will lead to a greater influx of foreign drivers coming to work in the UK as our wages are far greater — on average a Polish driver earns €600 a month, compared with around €2,490 a month in the UK.
n 1 May this year Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Cyprus all joined the EU, giving their citizens the right to work and provide services in any EU country. Many UK operators believe that this will lead to a greater influx of foreign drivers coming to work in the UK as our wages are far greater — on average a Polish driver earns €600 a month, compared with around €2,490 a month in the UK. Fear of competition
There's also a belief that foreign competition will increase. The amount of cabotage in the UK has risen 600% in the past three years and that's without the 10 new EU members. However, on the other hand, eastern European operators are equally concerned that while expansion will open the door for economic growth, competition from the West will also increase. There has already been evidence of this. Tibbett & Britten recently won £1.75m
worth of contracts with Spar, Haribo and CocaCola in the Czech Republic. And with other large multinationals relocating or expanding eastwards it's certain that their preferred logistics providers will follow.
Jan Medved, first secretary for CESMAD, the Czech National Transport Association, told delegates at Iveco's conference Challenges and Opportunities for Transport in the New Enlarged Europe that his organisation believes many Western operators see the East as a cheap labour market.
"Eastern operators will face greater competition as Western economies have the resources to invest here and can afford to pay our drivers higher pay, which means that to retain them we will be forced to increase our wages," he warned. "We will also have to focus more on offering move innovative services. "However, we don't believe that EU integration will see vast increases in the number of Eastern drivers seeking work in the West — almost half of the Czech Republic's 55,000
operators are already entitled to carry out international transport."
Janusz Lacny, president of the International Road Transport Union, argues that while enlargement will provide a wealth of opportunities for countries such as Poland this could be hindered by inappropriate policy: "Transport is an essential factor in the economic development of a nation.
"Countries like Poland need coherent and flexible legislation that will enable them to function in an open market with more money from the government earmarked for improving their public transport system and road network." Lots in common The conference also showed that UK operators have many things in common with their Eastern European counterparts.They all face a raft of new legislation including the Working Time Directive, digital tachographs and environmental issues but have inadequate information from the EU about their implementation. •