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LUDICROUS RATES

6th May 1999, Page 34
6th May 1999
Page 34
Page 34, 6th May 1999 — LUDICROUS RATES
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

If I were in the position of the four haulage companies working for Hapag Lloyd I would leave them in no doubt about where they could put their rate of 53p per mile. Hapag Lloyd (and every other freight carrier) should pay its hauliers a decent rate.

After all, no-one owes Hapag Lloyd a living.

Further, if Nedlloyd etc, accept these ludicrous rates they will be doing themselves and their industry no favours whatsoever. If hauling a container, with all the hassles and delays it entails, isn't worth £1 per mile, it isn't worth doing, and I suggest Hapag Lloyd (and all the other container operators) consult the rail-freight companies for a better price.

Despite what hauliers say, it is not taxes, social costs, and other expenses that are the barriers to profitable operation; it is the stupid rates they are willing to work for. if you want a box of teabags, you pay the asking price; there is no room for bargaining.

In CM I notice yet another picture of Mr Prescott. He will not listen to you because you are of no consequence to him. Anyone who can equate lorry operating weights with a possible impact on rail freight is not of this world.

If hauliers think that they need 44 tonnes on six axles to be profitable (and who am Ito argue with them?) so be it I can remember the days when "salvation" meant increasing artic weights to 32 tons on four axles, and a Cummins 220 was a powerful engine; when extra soundproofing consisted of a flour sack draped across the bonnet.

Ministerial concern over the impact the proposed increase in GVW may have on rail freight—which carries relatively little freight anyway, thanks to Raittrack's apparent unwillingness to invest in suitable infrastructure—is simply a smoke screen for a government which thinks that road haulage is a "Bad Idea" and that its exponents are lunatic criminals at best.

If rates go up—and they must—costs go up. Perhaps when RP1 inflation is adversely affected by government actions they'll stop being so shortsighted and idealistic, and move into the real world. Some hope! John Benton, Moxley, West Midlands.

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