French fear huge job losses
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THE LEADING French transport association has demanded drastic measures from the French government to stop the country's haulage industry losing 50,000 driving jobs over the next three years The Federation des enterprises de Transport et Logistique de France (TLF) adds that while nearly half of all logistics companies were recruiting staff two years ago, this has now fallen to a third.
And overall, the association warns, the industry is now losing more jobs than it is creating. In a bid to stop these losses the TLF is asking the government to cut business taxes, reduce social security contributions and harmonise European fuel taxation.
The TEE says that, as in the UK, fuel tax is one of the principal factors behind loss of market share. It has calculated that a 1% difference in fuel tax equates to a drop in market share of 3.8-5%.
The TLF adds that France is lagging behind other European countries in the development of large sites for logistics operations. These are vital, it says, given that a 3,000m2 warehouse site can create 2,000 jobs.
Delays in planning permission are also cited as a problem. The TLF concludes: "In France,it takes eight and a half months to obtain authorisation to exploit a site from the regional industry, research and environment authority, whereas it takes only four months in Spain and six in Belgium."