1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182 
THE FINAL CUT
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Anyone out there who thinks they can see light at the end of the haulage tunnel had better get ready to duck the train coming in the opposite direction.
Commercial Motor's latest survey says it all: fewer than 20% of the hauliers we spoke to expect any relief from the recession much this side of 1992 (see pages 8 and 24).
Times were tough enough in 1974 and 1980, but many hauliers reckon that the market now is the worst it has ever been. We're not too surprised by the number of failures in the over-subscribed parcels sector, where over-geared and under-funded newcomers are finding to their cost that the market is not the friendly place it seemed during the boom years. But even seasoned haulage campaigners are selling trucks and looking for a way out. Which begs the question, what's gone wrong? In a word, rates. A couple of years back truck sales were going through the roof, the construction industry was buoyant, retail sales were up — and road hauliers were merrily engaged in that traditional pastime of cut-throat rates slashing. The fledgling National Hauliers Association (see profile, page 58), has its roots in the tippermen's struggle to win viable rates. Yet at the height of the tipper famine CM noted that the tippermen were involved in a rates war that would do credit to a recession.
Is it any wonder, now that customers are trying to hold down transport costs, that nearly half of the hauliers we surveyed are prepared to run trucks at cost, simply to keep their wheels turning?
We wish the NHA well, but wait to be convinced that it will succeed in fixing a credible rates structure where the established groups have failed. Not even the RHA is big enough to dictate terms to transport users, and for the FTA, despite recent overtures to the hire-and-reward sector, many of its members are primarily seen as users rather than providers of transport, so it could be argued that they benefit from low rates.
Fixed tariffs, which have been experimented with in France, would certainly give everyone a breather from the boom/bust cycle, but the present Government would hardly be likely to support such a move. In any case, it could only offer a temporary respite, even if it could be made to work fairly.
In the long-term those hauliers who survive the current slump will have to accept that rock-bottom rates only keep fools busy. Yes, of course, it's hard to hold out for that little bit extra when the monthly payment falls due on the tractor, but doing it at cost can only prolong the agony of death by a thousand rates cuts.