Changes to car cabotage rules could keep rates low By
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Christopher Walton THE DEPARTMENT for Transport's decision to relax cabotage rules for car transporter firms will keep rates in the industry low and reduce operators' abilities to refresh their fleets, according to one haulier in the sector.
Roads minister Stephen Hammond approved a proposal to relax cabotage restrictions from September to cut problems with new number plate peaks in car buying in March and September.
Chris Doughty, MD of Acumen Distribution, said: "The only way customers will agree to putting the rates up to a sustainable level are if they feel some pain, and the only time that will happen are the two peaks in March and September. If you take that pain away by bringing foreign [operators] in to take on the excess, all that is going to do is extend the period of time we have to work under sub-economic rates.
"For the industry to recover it needs there to be not enough car transporters to move the cars [in March and September]. And then customers would start to appreciate more that we need to invest in equipment."
Nick Deal, group secretary of the car transporter group at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said: "This has been allowed to happen two times a year because there isn't enough trailer stock in this country to handle the two peaks. The obvious answer is to get rid of the twice-yearly new registration plate but that isn't something for the RHA to campaign on."