News

UK hauliers had a worse 2007 than any other country in Europe, according to the results of a Continent-wide survey. The European Transport Barometer 2008, for which MT is the UK partner, shows that the majority of British firms rated 2007 5/10, with the European average being 6.5/10. Domestic hauliers also fared poorly in terms of volume growth: just 46% reported seeing growth above 10% in 2007, while 82% of Czech hauliers and 70% of Polish operators saw double-digit percentage growth.

UK  profitability was one of the worst - 37.5% saw profit fall in 2007, an increase of 10% on the year before. UK operators also performed worse than forecast - around 90% of respondents had anticipated growth, but only 65% actually saw their businesses grow in 2007. Worse still, UK costs rose by an average of 13.4%, while hauliers' rates only rose by 5.7%. However, Romanian hauliers were hit by cost rises of nearly 20%, with rates shrinking by 4.5%. Spain and Portugal also saw rates dropping despite cost rises.