This report issued by the CNR in France shows Poland number one in international haulage.
How can the UK compete against the newer member countries in the EU who have vastly lower costs both in labour and fuel?
Is it to late for the UK to compete in international road haulage across the EU?
Fuel costs are pretty much the same for anyone when on a International journey. A UK haulier can fill up in Luxembourg or another cheap county just the same as someone from Eastern Europe.
Poland the biggest player in international transport in Europe. None of us would ever have guessed!
whelmic:
Fuel costs are pretty much the same for anyone when on a International journey. A UK haulier can fill up in Luxembourg or another cheap county just the same as someone from Eastern Europe.
I think it’s more to do with fixed costs, Insurance premiums for truck & Trailer are around £1000 pounds for annual green card, GIT insurance, CMR £450/500,
the cost of purchasing/leasing the vehicles I.E. New Renault T Range Big Cab 75000 Euro’s (£60/61000) in UK approximately £75/77,000 everything is cheaper,
but they have to pay the same costs for road tolls/ferries etc.
Also, they have had grants from the EU to help them with set up costs, it go’s on & on, the BIG question is WHY did they want the WALL pulled down in Berlin, in the first place ?
In my opinion, this was nothing to do with Freedom, it was all about cheap labour for the Big Multi-national Companies, and really this all started from the EU being set up has a free trade agreement between countries that signed up, not the MONSTER we have today ?
Finally, and again this is my opinion, the problem we have today with Russia is due to the EU and other outside factors (USA) keep pushing the fences back, it’s like
your next door neighbour keep moving the garden fence a bit by bit every year, and in the end you get totally ■■■■■■ off (Ukraine) and start pushing back !!!
Regards
JJSL
I believe the 2 biggest costs in haulage are Fuel and wages, we agree if you’re doing European work then fuel is about the same, but wages? I seem to remember when they had the fuss about having to go to Hungary to get workers for the sandwich factory they said the the average wage in Hungary was £7000pa, here I believe its about £25,000.
That’s a big margin when pricing a job, even if you pay your Hungarian driver more than the average wage.
JJSL:
Finally, and again this is my opinion, the problem we have today with Russia is due to the EU and other outside factors (USA) keep pushing the fences back, it’s like
your next door neighbour keep moving the garden fence a bit by bit every year, and in the end you get totally ■■■■■■ off (Ukraine) and start pushing back !!!Regards
JJSL
I’m sure if Putin had been in power earlier Poland and the Baltic states would not be in the EU or NATO, they would be a buffer zone. He see’s the Ukraine and Georgia the same way. But the EU expansionists and the USA have done as much meddling as have Russia, so the Ukraine now finds itself in a worse state than if it had stayed independent of both sides.
I’ve heard that there is a growing faction in Bulgaria that thinks they’d be better off leaving the EU and aligning themselves with Russia for trade and security.
Agree with JJSL. Although fuel costs may be pretty much the same for anyone running across Europe, set-up, maintenance and wage costs are where the difference is highlighted. But my take is that if you want to bake bread for a living you don’t start competing with Hovis. You make a better product and sell at a greater margin.
Same applies with transport. Don’t think that any customer who just wants stuff moved from A to B is concerned about who does it, they’re just looking at the cost to them. I would suggest any small to medium sized haulier in the UK can’t - and are banging their head against a wall if they want to - compete with companies with lower running costs. Be they from Carlisle or Warsaw.
However, if you find the customer who values a service, or who needs something more than a standard curtain to move stuff around, you’re halfway there.
It always perplexes me how no one has rallied against the pallet networks. In my mind they are just as responsible for the downward spiral of prices as any Eastern European haulier.
I agree that east europeans can do the job cheaper because of lower costs, so why not use the old adage, If you cant beat em, join em There are many uk companies who flagged out to Holland, there are many uk drivers working there also and the same amount working for German companies, not many people moaned about them, now with the influx of east europeans, and their transport companies, they are spread across europe, and often fulfill the needs of their countrymen who have travelled to other eu countries to earn a better way of life including the uk. Most of the original EU members are affected, and have also taken advantage of cheaper haulage rates but for eg, i have never seen an east european in a German registered truck ! Romanians are buying a uk registered trucks and operating within the law within the uk, whereas Bulgaria is offering a flagging out service, with new registrations ( including the trailer ) M.O.T for both, Insurances + git , vehicle taxes, green cards, O licences, authorisations, and a T/M for a fraction of the cost of the uk, there are also a few very large Belgium companies who have done this. I know a guy who did this with 5 trucks/trailers and is presently expanding, he employs uk drivers on very good money, and bg drivers on less English = £s.. Bgs = euros I dont blame him at all, it sticks 2 fingers up at the uk government for its high taxes, and very little discounts, his vehicles work across europe mostly on a weekly basis, depending on where they are going to/from, at present Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Spain, with them also returning to BG as and whenever ( his vehicles are in fact serviced in the uk, as is the 6 weekly inspection ) so please tell me whats wrong with that ? but dont mention the ■■■■■■■■ that they are lowering the rates, heard it all before, its called competition, Detressangle does it, so does Stobart, and other big players.
truckyboy:
I agree that east europeans can do the job cheaper because of lower costs, so why not use the old adage,If you cant beat em, join emThere are many uk companies who flagged out to Holland, there are many uk drivers working there also and the same amount working for German companies, not many people moaned about them, now with the influx of east europeans, and their transport companies, they are spread across europe, and often fulfill the needs of their countrymen who have travelled to other eu countries to earn a better way of life including the uk. Most of the original EU members are affected, and have also taken advantage of cheaper haulage rates but for eg, i have never seen an east european in a German registered truck ! Romanians are buying a uk registered trucks and operating within the law within the uk, whereas Bulgaria is offering a flagging out service, with new registrations ( including the trailer ) M.O.T for both, Insurances + git , vehicle taxes, green cards,Olicences, authorisations, and a T/M for a fraction of the cost of the uk, there are also a few very large Belgium companies who have done this. I know a guy who did this with 5 trucks/trailers and is presently expanding, he employs uk drivers on very good money, and bg drivers on less English = £s.. Bgs = euros I dont blame him at all, it sticks 2 fingers up at the uk government for its high taxes, and very little discounts, his vehicles work across europe mostly on a weekly basis, depending on where they are going to/from, at present Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Spain, with them also returning to BG as and whenever ( his vehicles are in fact serviced in the uk, as is the 6 weekly inspection ) so please tell me whats wrong with that ? but dont mention the [zb] that they are lowering the rates, heard it all before, its called competition, Detressangle does it, so does Stobart, and other big players.
Isn’t the next logical step for the above company when everyone’s doing it, to get rid of the English drivers on good money and have only the Bulgarian drivers on poorer money and then when everyone’s doing that and another advantage is needed then get someone who’s even cheaper? That’s exactly whats happened at sea since the “flagging out” craze started in the 60s and why now the overwhelming majority of the worlds tonnage flies a flag of convenience and the bulk of the worlds seamen are Filipino and the like and not a single commercial British shipping companies employs British ratings at all, none. I agree that what you say will happen, that chain of events has already been started but I think its a downward spiral of even bigger proportions than we’ve witnessed thus far and in the end there will be absolutely nothing in it for the British driver than a life outside of transport if he chooses to remain living in Britain with the associated cost of living. I’m sure there will come a day when a British owned transport firm on foreign plates cannot remain competitive if employing expensive British drivers when cheaper drivers from wherever become the industry standard, and when the EU get their way and entirely abolish cabotage that has to become the reality in my opinion.
There is such a big gap between the labour costs how can a haulage company in the Uk compete?
The rate of growth in the UK haulage industry is very low, you then compare it to the Eastern European companies whose growth is very high. The result of this is, over time, the economy in those countries gets better and wages will go up, but at the same time as their economy is improving ours is stagnent…
There will be a ‘level’ playing field in the EU eventually but it will be at the expense of the likes of the UK, our wages and living standards will decrease and the Eastern member states will increase. By then it will be to late and the UK (as well as other states) would’ve lost its position in teh market and would not be able to recover.
I agree with Plament that a UK haulage company may need to offer more of a service to be competitive but at the end of the day when the economy gets tight and businesses need to cut costs they will have to try out the lower cost alternatives otherwise they themselves run the risk of losing out to their competition.
English recruitment firm, using a Polish job website to advertise for Polish drivers to come work in UK.
jobs.pl/oferty/agencja-pracy … nia-114718
You may have to use Chrome to translate as the websites translator tool just takes you else where in the site.
*Edit
Just found that Abigrain are directly advertising in Poland.
don’t be surprised when I tell you there are dozens of companies looking for drivers, plumbers, nurses, what have you, to work in the UK, in every eastern european country…
Checked out the Weberers website.The pay is 400,000 Forints per month.Hell that’s a lot . Unfortunately works out at about £1036 per month.We are never going to compete with that.
Nozza:
Checked out the Weberers website.The pay is 400,000 Forints per month.Hell that’s a lot . Unfortunately works out at about £1036 per month.We are never going to compete with that.
No you’re not and does that wage also apply to the Romanian trucks/drivers they run or are they on even less? There will never be anything even remotely resembling a level playing field whilst the EU keeps admitting poverty stricken countries.
I wonder though, what your actual quality of life would be in Hungary on 400,000 forints per month as opposed to a British driver doing European work earning 500 pounds per week or two thousand pounds for month take home but with the cost of living in Britain what it is. Its all well and good earning X amount of pounds in Britain when everything is so expensive and it all goes out in costs and bills and leaves you with sod all.
I know when I worked on coasters for a short while, as a deck hand on a British or German ship, my wage was pretty crap for living in England, yet the Filipinos I worked along side, who were on just over half the money I was on, lived like king’s in their home country, often in quite affluent gated communities etc. I know the comparison wouldn’t be quite so extreme with a country like Hungary, but perhaps they really are better off in real terms earning that money and living there?
robinhood_1984:
I wonder though, what your actual quality of life would be in Hungary on 400,000 forints per month as opposed to a British driver doing European work earning 500 pounds per week
well there you go 
milodon:
robinhood_1984:
well there you go
Interesting site! I’m currently comparing the nearest places to where I currently live in Canada and where I previously lived in England.
milodon:
robinhood_1984:
I wonder though, what your actual quality of life would be in Hungary on 400,000 forints per month as opposed to a British driver doing European work earning 500 pounds per weekwell there you go
Cost of Living Comparison Between Milton Keynes, United Kingdom And Nyiregyhaza, Hungary
I am suprised to see it is more expensive to live in London than New York!
Lets see what today’s Autumn statement brings and see how that will effect anything… i wonder where they are getting all this money from for the roads and flood prevention… Can you say tax rise? must be coming soon…
quote…
I know when I worked on coasters for a short while, as a deck hand on a British or German ship, my wage was pretty crap for living in England, yet the Filipinos I worked along side, who were on just over half the money I was on, lived like king’s in their home country, often in quite affluent gated communities etc.
[/quote]
On one of my old ships I was skipper of I sat down with the Filipino cook one day and compared lifestyles, his wife had a maid, mine dont, and he saved in his country the equivalent per month of my total wages and the fotos I saw of his house were quite impressive. I thought WTF I live in the wrong country and speak the wrong native language !! Also I thought I was on a good daily rate until then 
raymundo:
On one of my old ships I was skipper of I sat down with the Filipino cook one day and compared lifestyles, his wife had a maid, mine dont, and he saved in his country the equivalent per month of my total wages and the fotos I saw of his house were quite impressive. I thought WTF I live in the wrong country and speak the wrong native language !! Also I thought I was on a good daily rate until then
Move to Manila, Ray. There will always be a job for you on a British ship then, and think how you can live.