Steel hauliers hit by policy change
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• Dozens of hauliers who based their business on moving steel say they have been left out in the cold" by British Steel's cost cutting exercise at the Llanwern plant in South Wales.
Until the policy change up to 30 BS-registered hauliers were provided with daily work at Llanweni. Now, only four are being used: Hazel's Haulage and Cardiff Transport of Newport, RG Miles Transport of Monmouth and Lloyds of Ludlow.
One haulier who was removed from the works register was told that his vehicles had not been carrying enough tonnage to warrant him continuing working at Llanwern. "I have tried to sell off my fleet of two trucks and five trailers, but they have been modified to carry steel coils and can't be used on general haulage. I can't give them away," he says.
Another operator agrees: "We did not even receive any written warning from Llanwern, and although it began as a trial the preferred haulier system is still in place. We have to get by on the scraps from their table," he says. "I have already had to lose three employees."
Stan Peate, manager of operations at Llanwern, agrees that BS has cut the number of hauliers it uses, but denies any drastic pruning. "There are still more than 50 hauliers registered. We do have a priority loading system because some hauliers have higher quality vehicles than others, but there should be no question of people hanging around hoping to get a load. Everything is now done by appointment."
"British Steel wants its hauliers to move coils in covered vehicles to a high standard and we have been applying quality tests to the hauliers at Llanwern," says Peate. "We want them to invest in new equipment and we know they have to have a higher guaranteed volume to make that investment. I have heard these complaints, but we have looked at it internally and could find no substance to them."