Diesel set to pass wages as top cost
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by Toby Clark • Haulage costs have outstripped inflation during the past year with the cost of fuel jumping 8%, says an industry survey.
The Road Haulage Association has produced a survey of members which concludes that operating costs have increased by 4.36%. Forty hauliers operating 2,000 vehicles contributed to the review of operating costs from October 1994 to September 1995.
A sharp rise in duty hit fuel prices.. increasing their share of total costs to 22.4%. Diesel prices have fallen over the past three months but the Budget is expected to more than wipe out these gains. Drivers' wages went up by 3.0%—less than the Retail Price Index increase— and represented 24.7% of costs. "Fuel is the real worry," says RHA operations director Tim Inman. "If duty increases in next month's Budget are as bad as feared, diesel could overtake drivers' wages as the largest annual expense.
"Hauliers who have failed to negotiate at least a 4.36% increase in rates over the past year are in fact going backwards in business terms," he adds. "Cost increases expected in the forthcoming Budget and in 1996 mean that pay settlements need to be addressed now. Operators should bear these factors in mind when negotiating forward haulage rates with their customers."
Road tax is also likely to increase in the Budget, and the slight drop in insurance costs over the past year is not expected to be sustained.