MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
Today the Freight Transport Association will be running its Budget Desk, providing information, analysis and reaction to the Chancellor’s statement and its effect on industry’s transport operations.
FTA represents the transport interests of companies moving goods by road, rail, sea and air. Its members operate over 220,000 goods vehicles – almost half the UK fleet. In addition they consign over 90 per cent of the freight moved by rail and over 70 per cent of sea and air freight.
FTA’s Budget submission called on the Chancellor to:
Abandon plans for an above-inflation fuel tax increase on 1 April and freeze duty at current levels in 2010/11
Introduce a fuel price stabiliser, provided it can be made to work for the industry.
Leave lorry Vehicle Excise Duty unchanged
Make early progress in introducing a time-based lorry road user charge to ensure that foreign lorries pay their way on our roads, together with a parallel compensation mechanism to offset the charge for UK-based carriers
Support businesses involved in international trade by resisting pressure to add to the cost of international freight movements through a ‘per-plane’ tax to replace the current regime of Air Passenger Duty.
Help the freight industry’s actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by widening the scope of low-carbon HGV investment grants and providing the right investment environment for the development of low-carbon refuelling infrastructure.
Fuel duty facts:
If fuel duty rises by 1 pence per litre above inflation in April as planned it will leave industry footing an additional fuel bill of £450 million as a minimum
For a vehicle operator with a fleet of ten heavy goods vehicles this will mean having to find another £14,000
Fuel duty accounts for well over half the cost of a tank of diesel
World oil prices have risen from $79 per barrel at the beginning of 2010 to a current price of $111
Bulk diesel costs went up 15 per cent in 2010 alone, adding £6,464 to the annual operating cost of a typical 44 tonne articulated vehicle
Fuel accounts for over a third of the cost of running an HGV
Operating margins in the haulage industry average around 4 per cent
