Industry is upbeat despite recession
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Chris Druce THE ROAD transport industry remains conident about its longterm prospects despite the continuing economic uncertainty, rising costs and steady stream of collapses affecting the sector.
The latest Bibby Financial Services Business Factors Index, which covers the performance of large and small hauliers during the second quarter, found nine out of 10 (89%) were faring the same or better than they were this time last year.
The survey of almost 4,000 Bibby Services customers found nearly three-quarters (74%) saw an in crease in the number of customers from the irst three months of this year and 48% experienced a rise in the number of business inquiries.
A survey of Palletforce members found three-quarters of respondents believe their businesses will perform better in the coming year than the previous. The pallet network found just 10% of its 87 shareholder members were concerned about the economy.
The indings tally with CM’s latest Trucking Britain Out of Recession Survey on page 14. It reveals that while June’s high point of optimism has cooled, 72% of August respondents remain either very of
fairly optimistic about the prospects for their business over the coming 12 months, just one percentage point lower than July.
● Pallet-Track MD Nigel Parkes says: “I never believed we would come out of the recession like a rocket. We were always going to see slow growth, and some was going to be stagnant and, at times, it would drop back. There have been constant jitters, understandably with the problems in Europe, but I didn’t believe recovery would be under ive years.” Turn to p16 for more.