Small hauliers lose out on IT
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by Miles Brignall • Small haulage firms are set to lose out to larger competitors as the industry becomes more reliant on expensive computer systems, the chief executive of Christian Salvesen has warned.
Speaking at the Freight Transport Association's annual conference, Edward Roderick predicted that the increasing role of information technology in the haulage industry will leave many smaller hauliers out in the cold as they struggle to find the large sums these systems require.
Paul Bateman, Tesco's distribution director, said his firm is committed to using small firms to carry 20% of its goods, but he added that if they are going to survive they need to concentrate on providing an addedvalue service that the large firms find difficult to match.
FTA president Lawrence Christensen called on Transport Minister Gavin Strang to introduce dedicat ed freight lanes for trucks in a bid to ease congestion. Claiming that hauliers would be prepared to pay more to the Government in return for congestion free roads, Christensen went on to renew the call for a 44-tonne limit on trucks running to and from ports, and on other operations including the carriage of fuel.
A number of speakers claimed that one way round con
gestion is to make greater use of the road network at night. Only 10% of deliveries take place between 22:00-08:00hrs, said one major retailer.
The FTA's Owen Thomas warned operators that they face tougher five-yearly reviews with the introduction of EU changes to the 0-licensing structure, and they will have to meet higher financial standards. 11 David Pywell, transport director at Birmingham City Council, told delegates that the assessment of which bridges need to be upgraded to accommodate 40-tonne trucks in the UK from 1999 will not be com
pleted until 2002.