British Sugar considers a switch to own beet fleet
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• by Karen Miles British Sugar is pushing for a reorganisation of its sugar beet transport in a surprise move which could see it operating up to 500 of its own trucks.
The monopoly sugar processor is rumoured to be in discussion with a truck manufacturer over the possibility of buying or leasing tippers for use during the annual harvest.
British Sugar will only say that its logistics department is conducting a feasibility study on how best to cut the £20m annual beet transport budget which is paid to the UK's 9,000 growers.
If British Sugar implements the scheme it will shake up hundreds of hauliers currently collecting 12 million tonnes of beet from farms between September and February for delivery to British Sugar's nine factories. The rationalisation issue, which is part of an attempt to renegotiate the whole contract between British Sugar and British growers, could be settled by an independent arbitrator and ratified by the Ministry of Agriculture.
British Sugar says it would be prepared to share the cost savings from more efficient transport with the growers.
If beet transport is rationalised it will follow recent moves in which British Sugar reduced the number of operators for finished products to two: Tankfreight and Turners of Soham.