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COSTS ACROSS THE CHANNEL: THE FRENCH OPERATOR'S VIEW
Page 27
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But what does a French operator think? David Sagnard, is a director of Calais-based Transports Carpentier which runs 60 trucks.
"Wtth regard to our levels of pay and tax I don't think it is the same in England," he says. "It's very difficult for us when we look at the profit at the end of the year; it's around 0.2-.0.5%. I think many British firms would give up with those sort of margins!
"The real difference in costs is the productivity difference. We are penalised when compared with the UK, but even more so when compared to the new EU states —the Czechs, the Slovaks and the Poles for example.
"I don't think we are in a better position than UK firms. If you were only to look at the price of diesel then perhaps yes. But that only represents 20% of our costs, so although that may be 40% cheaper than in the UK, driver costs represent a bigger proportion of our total; say around 40%. And the productivity difference means we pay another 20% on top of that."