Allspares (Auto) Ltd.

I know it might appear that my sole topic of conversation recently has been rising haulage costs, but to be honest, this is merely a reflection of the concerns coming from most hauliers.  There is little else on their minds at the moment and other industry news that may be of interest, is scarce.

With fuel, tyre and overheads all on the rise [12%, 7.3% and 5% respectively from 1st Jan to 1st July 2011], and with their customers pushing for reductions or no increase in prices, it’s not surprising that hauliers are feeling the squeeze.

Those that may have planned to upgrade their fleet are now waiting to see what happens; this is not a good time to invest heavily into an area which will probably experience further increases in operating costs.

Unfortunately, this obviously has an impact on the commercial vehicle market despite the continual upbeat message that is portrayed by manufacturers in trade journals and the web.

This is not a recession we can spend our way out of, and haulage companies cannot hold back passing on price increases to their customers forever!