Fuel duty cut is the top priority
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What changes would you make to the industry if you had the power? August’s Trucking Britain Out Of Recession survey reveals your wishlist
By Justin Stanton
IF YOU HAD THE power to make changes to the transport industry, what would you do? That’s the question we asked in August’s Trucking Britain Out Of Recession survey. The resounding answer was: cut fuel duty rates.
We offered the near-200 respondents 15 changes they could make, and up to six of these could be selected.
The overwhelming majority of respondents (84%, down slightly from 2011’s 89%) would cut fuel duty. When pressed to tell us which of their six picks was the most important, 45% said cutting fuel duty was the clear priority.
Here’s what some respondents had to say about fuel duty: • “Making this change would boost the economic recovery and stimulate transport activity. Easing inancial constraints on transport irms would facilitate investment in customer and consumer education as well as maintenance standards.” • “This would boost the economy and help hauliers reduce their overheads. The boost in the economy would also lead to a rise in spending and expansion, and hence more goods would be required, etc.” • “We can keep trying to get rates up, but that seems unlikely in our supermarket-dominated country – so the only other way is to get overheads down.” • “[Fuel cost] is killing us: it’s gone up again by 2.3ppl this week. I can’t justify carrying on the business with this type of increase every week. We need an essential user rebate.” The second most popular change was the same as last year: impose harsher penalties on rogue operators. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) opted for this, but when forced to choose just one change, only 7% wanted to punish cowboys more severely.
One respondent noted: “As long as there are rogue traders, we will never be able to improve the perception of road haulage.”
Remove the cowboys
Another highlighted the connection to rates: “If rogue operators are removed our rates could be pushed up, as it is the rogues who cut corners and rates to grab other companies’ business. We could try this because we know realistically none of the other [options] will ever happen.” Substantial investment in the construction of new roads and the maintenance of existing infrastructure was the third most popular choice, at 48% (up slightly on 2011’s survey).
One respondent said: “An improved infrastructure remains the underlying bedrock for all other areas to progress – improved vehicle performance, improved driver performance, reduced fuel usage, and the ability to then launch transport and logistics as a professional career able to be perceived much better than it is at present. This is also the single most important element in the medium and long term.” Another stated: “It has multidimensional beneits and is the only one that will improve cost, safety and service in one move.” The construction of more truckstops came in joint fourth at 46%, along with a new entry: implement legislation that compels businesses to pay bills within 30 days. The latter was the third most popular when respondents were asked to pick just one change.
One respondent said: “The invoicing system strangles business cashlow from the top to the bottom. You always hear ‘I’m waiting to get paid too’ . It should be a maximum of 30 days’ payment, with mandatory ines for any days over and increasing every day after that.” Another revealed: “I have been involved with many good companies that have been forced into administration due to customers paying late. Each company inally turned to invoice factoring, but the proit is not there to cover these costs.” Another put it succinctly: “Cashlow is the oil in the engine of business. Cut off the cashlow and the engine will seize.” The joint ifth most popular choice was to abandon the prepack legislation that effectively allows ‘legal phoenixes’ , along with educating customers as to why they should pay more for transport. The latter was more of a priority for small leets than big leets: 46% want clients to pay faster, but just 21% of the largest hauliers called for this change.
Start from the bottom
Regarding pre-packs, one respondent said: “It’s far too easy for people to walk away from their commitments and recommence trading at the same level as they were before the pre-pack arrangement. If they wish to start again, they should start from the bottom of the ladder.” Of clients paying more, another said: “As a former transport planner and now a transport sales rep, I ind I am constantly having to go through rates with a ine toothcomb to undercut the opposition, and customers will drop other hauliers for the sake of 50p per pallet in some cases. If customers were educated as to why rates have to be the price they are, they will understand the costs behind the jobs we do for them. It’s not as simple as vehicle, fuel, driver.” Abandonment of the Driver CPC and the licensing cyclists of were next at 32% each. Abandoning the Driver CPC was the second most popular change when respondents were pressed to pick just one change to make, and was the only change other than cutting fuel duty to break into a doubleigure share of the vote (11%).
Among the expected complaints about Driver CPC, this particular one drew together both the legislation and the cyclist issue: “It’s an unfair expense to the already qualiied drivers on our roads. If any CPC should be done, it should be done by all road users – car drivers and cyclists included.”
The remaining changes failed to secure more than 30% of the votes, although we suspect that as Euro-6 gets closer, so the demand for real incentives to make the upgrade will become more popular. ■
Optimism bounces back
OPTIMISM levels bounced back in August: up to 42 from July’s 25. Of the respondents, 68% said they were either very optimistic or fairly optimistic about their business’s prospects over the next 12 months, while 26% were either not very optimistic or not at all optimistic. Own-account operators were overwhelmingly positive, registering a 79/12 positive/negative split. Logistics and contract distribution irms were less positive than last month, registering a 66/29 split (compared with 76/24 in July). Hire and reward hauliers posted a split of 66/31 – a marked improvement on July’s 51/44.
• The next Trucking Britain survey is now online. Log on to www.commercialmotor.com/ truckingbritain to take part. Those who complete the survey will be in with a chance of winning £100.