LEgAL

Road Transport operators looking to evolve vehicle fleet in light of fuel cost rises fleet in light of fuel cost rises

The road transport industry faces new problems in every aspect of its business. Fuel is one aspect that is being considered on a daily basis, and whether the suitability of a company’s fleet of commercial vehicles should be considered in the light of the cost of the fuel used. Some alternatives are already available, others are in the pipeline, and more are being developed.

Not only do COVID-19 regulations continue to apply, but new regulations are being introduced as previously unrecognised effects of the pandemic are identified. It is now accepted that there are ‘long term’ symptoms which can affect the performance of any person who has had the disease, no matter how slight, and who now appears to be free of it.

More recently Russia has attacked the Ukraine, and it seems inevitable that road transport operators in the European Union will be affected by that conflict. Russia is a major supplier of natural gas and diesel and it seems likely that the Russian domestic need to fuel the war effort will reduce the amount of diesel available to the general market. We are already seeing a very sharp increase in the cost of fuel and we are told that further rises are likely to continue.

Those haulage companies whose vehicles routinely undertake long journeys will have to decide whether the particular journey is still profitable with the new fuel costs. It may be necessary to share the journey with another company or consider using HGVs with more modern engines offering much better fuel consumption figures.

In an extreme case the management of a haulage company may decide to re-examine the nature of the business it is carrying out in the light of increasing fuel costs, increasing vehicle costs, and increasing regulatory controls, and decide if it wishes to stay in business in its existing form or whether to make changes. The cost of fuel is already a significant issue here in Ireland and it is only too clear that the price of diesel will increase.

It is a time when the individual managers of a transport company, whether big or small, must be particularly aware of technical developments in the transport industry because the suitability of any part of an HGV to do the work for the existing customers? Does the space available for the load to be carried on the company’s vehicles allow the optimum weight to be carried on each journey, or would a changed engine allow the same journey to be done for less fuel?

It is only necessary to open any one of the many trade magazines to be faced with advertisements not only for new vehicles but also for new parts and accessories, all designed to improve the vehicles’ performance. It is not surprising that some operators here in Ireland appear to be abandoning the HGVs that were the ‘workhorses’ of their fleet, replacing them with newer smaller vehicles powered by the new engines using less fuel but, with a similar performance.

The road transport sector in Ireland and in Europe is facing a future in which every aspect of the business has or will change, and those running a haulage business will need to decide which report in the trade press is the one that must be followed.