When addressing the Oireachtas Transport Committee, President of the Irish Road Haulage Association Eugene Drennan said that co-ops and PLCs with “fat balance sheets” need to address the impact soaring fuel prices are having on hauliers. He made the recent comment as, in his view, the haulage sector is now at a crisis point.
To highlight this, he said that there had already had been a recent stoppage at a dairy co-op, where milk lorry drivers refused to collect the second round of milk. “It’s a standoff down there, and that’s coming to other co-ops,” he stated. “There is nothing to bring the customer to the table. They’re a big wall up against individuals and small companies. We can’t bring the customer to give us the increase. They are not addressing the facts.”
Drennan made a call for Government action to relieve some of the price pressures on hauliers. He added that it must also work with the EU to reduce costs linked with climate action measures.
“We need diesel to supply Ireland full stop. HVO [hydrotreated vegetable oil] and bio-diesel are not available to us in enough quantity to keep the fleet going, then hydrogen and other gases – the ships and the Channel Tunnel won’t take us on board,” he said.
This comes as there is growing anxiety that Europe might run out of diesel due to tensions in Ukraine and Russia. Traders are now paying vast premiums to take up available supplies, rather than waiting for later. Some firms have warned that some locations could run dry.