The timber haulage industry has signalled its concern over the spiralling costs of diesel.
Brian Harper, of Aberdeenshire-based Harper Transport Ltd, said: “It [fuel prices] affects us dramatically. We have had increases over the last couple of months and prices look as if they’re going to keep on rising. For the chancellor to impose more duty is diabolical.”
Mr Harper, chairman of the Forestry Contracting Association‘s roundwood haulage specialist group, said the cost of diesel had increased 5p to 67p a litre since September last year, representing about 35% of his company’s costs. He described timber haulage as having the tightest margins in the wood products industry.
Mr Harper’s comments follow a statement by the Freight Transport Association, in which it said it was “alarmed” at rising diesel prices and their impact on lorry operating costs.
The FTA urged the chancellor not to impose the 1.9p per litre hike in diesel duty due to come into effect on September 1. Instead, it is calling for a temporary duty reduction to take the heat out of fuel price rises, which in recent weeks have seen pump rates topping 80p per litre.
