NEWS FROM ABROAD
Sarah Andrew, CMPA Project Manager
Every now and again the CMPA receives an update on the quarrying industry in the United Kingdom. One such update arrived on April 1 and, if it weren’t for the date on the letter, we would have thought it was an April Fools joke.
On March 25 the UK government introduced a Working Time Directive over the transport industry. This Working Time Directive (WTD) means a truck driver cannot operate over 48 hours/week including any part time work they do on the side.
This action will have a hugely detrimental effect upon the quarrying industry in the UK. To give a better understanding of what it will mean, following is an extract of the submission made to the UK government by the British Aggregates Association;
“With few quarries being rail connected, our industry is heavily dependent on road transport. UK road haulage charges are already high as haulage contractors do not receive any rebate on their fuel, unlike other industries, and the cost of delivery can often equal or surpass the cost of the aggregate itself. Rates have also been elevated over recent years by the escalating cost of fuel and the reduction of capacity within the haulage industry itself.
Therefore, because of the high weight to price ratio of aggregate (our is the cheapest freight on the highway) any haulage cost increase has a disproportionate effect. The net result of the Working Time Directive on road haulage will be to increase the delivered price of UK produced aggregates by up to 30% and we are becoming extremely concerned about our ability to compete against imported aggregates.
Most of our large conurbations are on the coast and have operational ports with established facilities for unloading, dispersing and processing aggregates and it can already cost more to deliver to these cities by road than to ship in bulk from countries like Norway.
A significant incentive to locate concrete works and asphalt facilities in the docklands is that much of our cement and all our bitumen arrives by sea. Most of the higher end of the stone market has already been lost to imports with almost 100% of granite slabs, setts, pavers and gravestones coming from Spain, Portugal or China. Similarly Spanish slate has started to
dominate the roofing market.
Imports of aggregates are steadily rising and Network Rail (Railtrack) has now bought Norwegian track ballast. A large part of the quarry industry will accordingly struggle to remain competitive if haulage gets transformed into a sellers market by the RTD and, given the current acute shortage of HGV drivers, this is well nigh inevitable.
Even if the quarry industry moves from hired in to in house haulage the problem will remain due to the above shortage of drivers and we could end up being cut off from many of our customers. Marine transport is very cost effective, it will not be affected by the Working Time Directive and one country, Norway, already boasts that it has sufficient coastal quarry capability to meet the entire UK requirement.
The UK is rich in mineral reserves and the extraction and processing of this material is one of our few remaining primary industries. UK stone for UK construction is good for the environment, it is good for all sorts of local and national industries and I would sincerely hope that government still considers it to be good for our balance of payments.”
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