Road transport of timber could be heading for more delays because of increasing congestion, according to a Freight Transport Association (FTA) survey.

The quarterly transport activity survey predicts road network reliability will deteriorate during the current quarter. The FTA said the network generally improves during the second quarter of each year but half of its survey’s respondents reported worse road congestion in the first quarter compared with last year.

Phil Trueman, group logistics manager of Timbmet Ltd, confessed that the FTA’s survey predictions were ‘depressing’ news.

He said: ‘Congestion probably has got worse and as a result we are having to work harder at scheduling deliveries to enable customers to receive their goods on time. It is especially bad round the major cities, particularly the M25 and the West Midlands. Even the M40, which used to be unproblematic is getting to be a big problem’.

He said Timbmet was planning to increase the number of vehicles it operated daily to fulfill deliveries.

&#8220Our industry is hugely dependent on the road transport sector. Transport has generally been a complete disaster for the last five years”

Mark O’Brien, head of public affairs, TTF

Ewan Mackie, spokesperson for the Forestry Contracting Association, said he was not aware of any congestion increase but believed investment in the road infrastructure was being limited to trunk roads.

He said: ‘Money has not been spent on the minor roads for a long time’.

Mark O’Brien, head of public affairs at The Timber Trade Federation, said: ‘Our industry is hugely dependent on the road transport sector. Transport has generally been a complete disaster for the last five years.’

He said the timber industry was restricted in delivery flexibility as it needed to make daytime deliveries, unlike other industrial sectors.