Peterborough, UK: The Road Haulage Association has called on ministers to work with their EU counterparts to extend the easements being provided to supermarkets to cover all Northern Ireland supplies in a bid to give firms moving goods across the Irish Sea time to adjust to new processes.
Since 1 January, complex bureaucracy has seen trade and the movement of product stop, and with no signs of improvement hauliers are continuing to see significant drops in trade volumes and financial losses.
RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett explained, in a letter to Cabinet minister Michael Gove, that new guidance UK and Irish officials issued last week to help ease pressure on ‘groupage’ movements is unclear and not fit for purpose.
“The new model has not been stress-tested and does not consider the impact on suppliers having to develop bespoke processes within their own businesses,” said Burnett.
“It also fails to address the complexity and overly bureaucratic requirements designed for external trade and not internal within the UK. It does not recognise the shortage of vets.”
Burnett repeated his call for Gove to host an immediate roundtable with Northern Irish hauliers to find a workable solution and provide financial support for those who have suffered significant losses as a result.
He also urged Gove to work with industry to resolve the customs intermediary shortage to adequately handle EU trade. RHA intelligence indicates that loads to the EU have reduced by as much as 68%.
