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by lain Sherriff • The Anglo-French permit system which came
Page 34
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into operation on Monday is being strongly criticized by a number of British-Continental operators. There is an agreement that the UK should have 8,000 permits a year to cover journeys to and through France, 2,000 of which have been ear-marked for the "kangaroo" service.
The number of permits allocated has been described as totally inadequate and one operator suggested to CM that the figure of 8,000 had been reached without any count being taken. It is understood that it is based on the number of vehicles which are estimated to have gone into France from the United Kingdom in 1968.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport said this week that there would be a meeting with the French officials before the end of February to review the position.
It is unlikely that many operators will be inconvenienced too much since they can switch their traffic from Calais to Zeebrugge. Mr. C. Downie, transport manager of Whitbread and Co. Ltd., told CM that his company normally made 38 crossings per month and that he had been refused permits for the month of February; the whole allocation had already been taken up, he said. It is understood that for February, Whitbread will switch its traffic from Calais to Zeebrugge.
Mr. R. Wickenden, chairman• of European Ferries Ltd., the parent company of Townsend-Thoresen, the largest cross-channel ferry company, said he believed that after the revision meeting a more realistic figure would be arrived at. "1 cannot believe," he said, "that the French Government would want to harm their own import/export business and this is what the restriction would mean."
Mr. Wickenden was returning from the launching of his company's 10th ferry. He plans to offer 23 sailings daily to Europe and, if need be, the company will switch traffic from the French to Belgian and Dutch ports. When the 10-vessel fleet is working to capacity in May it will carry 2,000 tons daily.
In addition to its ferry service, the company has available a semi-trailer pool. Mr. Wickenden stresses that there is no intention of competing with road hauliers but the semi-trailers will be made available to customers through road hauliers who would supply the tractive units.
If special authorizations are ever introduced it is understood that containers travelling to Europe on the same semi-trailer throughout will not be required to be specially authorized. If this is the case, then the ferry company's trailer pool is likely to be extended.
Meanwhile the Italian permit quota which provides for 2,400 journeys a year in both directions has been criticized in the House of Commons. Mr. Albert Murray, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, said that the quota was well below the needs of our operators. It is understood that strong representation has been made to the Italian authorities about the inadequacy of the quota and it is likely that it will be-the subject of a meeting in the near future.