Boris Johnson is being urged by European hauliers to ease the restrictions on cabotage, the number of deliveries made by foreign drivers within the UK, in order to solve the UK supply-chain crisis.
Maciej Wroński, the president of the Polish Transport and Logistics Ministry and 31 Dutch road transport companies have urged the British Prime Minister to change cabotage rules and encourage more EU truckers to operate in the UK.
Current UK-EU trade agreements allow EU hauliers to perform two extra cabotage operations in Britain after they deliver a load. Comparatively, cabotage is permitted three times within EU member states (but limits apply to how many times this can be done ‘cooling off periods’).
Many European haulage companies feel they need to do more cabotage in order to make trips to the UK worthwhile, given the friction at the Brexit border and the likelihood of having to return empty.
According to Maciej Wroński, President of Transport and Logistics Poland, reverting to the previous cabotage arrangement, which allowed for three trips, is the “only solution” to the UK’s supply chain challenges. The transport infrastructure in Britain is not self-sufficient, according to him.
Moreover, the two- and three-month visas for foreign drivers have generated more responses. Earlier this week, the government announced that visas for European HGV drivers would only be valid for two months, not three. The business group Logistics UK expressed its disappointment at this news.
Elizabeth de Jong, director of policy, explained: “The three month visa was much lower than the six months we had requested to enable additional testing capacity to be delivered by DVSA and more drivers to be trained. Our fear is that it is very unlikely that a two month visa will attract EU drivers which would make the scheme impotent. We are seeking urgent clarification from the government on this issue.”
The UK government’s measures will not even amount to a drop in the ocean, according to one Dutch haulier. Linava’s secretary general, Zenonas Buivydas, has said that the scheme will probably not attract Lithuanian drivers.
“At the moment, we do not have any data that would indicate that the drivers would go to the UK to work. We are nonetheless monitoring the situation. It is hard to predict, but it is likely that a two-three month UK work permit will not attract too many Lithuanian drivers.”
