No Fuel Duty - Good News!

No Fuel Duty - Good News!
By Norman Dulwich

 

There are many ways in which hauliers can plan for a more

efficient business. Securing return loads to avoid empty

journeys is one of them. But there is no doubt that reduced fuel

duty has a big effect on every business in this industry.

There was good news to this effect at the beginning of December

this year, as the Chancellor announced he was cancelling the

proposed 3% rise earmarked for fuel duty that the previous

Labour government had planned some time ago. This clearly came

as a relief to all those working in the industry, as it means

the money spent on fuel will not go up as was previously feared.

Will this good news last?

This is the one area that hauliers are worried about. Although

the cancellation of the planned 3% fuel duty rise is now agreed,

it does not mean there won't be other rises further down the

road. While hauliers try a number of tactics to ensure their

businesses are as cost effective as possible, return loads being

an essential part of this strategy, they have little to no power

over fuel duty. They must withstand the rises in duty when they

come, and hope for reductions whenever they can.

Indeed, many in the industry were praying the Chancellor would

actually reduce the level of fuel duty currently being paid,

rather than just cancelling the planned rise that was to occur.

While there is widespread relief at the announcement, there is

still a feeling more could potentially have been done to help

the industry.

How big an effect could a reduction in fuel duty have on the

haulage industry?

Hauliers cover thousands of miles a year, over and over,

carrying all manner of loads and return loads to make money. As

with any business they must think about reducing their costs

wherever they can.

Fuel is a large cost that cannot easily be adjusted - after all

you need fuel to run the vehicles. Return loads make journeys

more profitable than an empty journey would be, but there is

still the question of fuel to pay for at the end of the day. The

cancellation of the increase in fuel duty will come as good news

for the industry, but it only means that companies will remain

in the same position they are in now. It would be better to be

able to look forward to the potential of a real reduction from

the position we are in now, but perhaps this is a little too

much to hope for at the moment.

We shall have to wait and see whether the Chancellor has any

such move in mind when the real Budget is presented next year.

There is plenty of time to go until then, so let's hope for good

news in 2013.

Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Haulage Exchange, the

world's largest neutral trading hub for same day haulage jobs

and return loads in the express freight exchange industry. Over

2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together

through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe

'wholesale' environment.