Fuel price hikes sees Longford haulage sector facing 'economic oblivion'

They were the sobering warnings delivered by a clutch of haulage firms this week days after the latest hike in excise rates came into force.

From midnight last Friday, those rises saw petrol increase by 7c per litre with diesel incurring by 5c upturn.

Orla Barry, of Longford-based transport company Barry Express, said the crisis was effectively forcing cash strapped companies to look on with “fear, desolation and dread” on an almost daily basis.

“This 5c increase, when passed onto the hundreds of thousands of litres of diesel we need each year, represents yet another slap in the face to an industry already on its knees,” she said.

Last week’s announcement is the second of three increases that looks set to offset a reduction introduced last year to combat soaring prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a withering attack on government bosses’ apparent refusal to row back on the latest rises, Ms Barry singled out Green Party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s “obsession” in meeting Ireland’s well documented climate strategy as a key factor behind the added pressure on hauliers.

“This government and its own Minister Ryan’s obsession with our 2030 climate targets, which we already look certain to miss, has once again been laid bare, in their incessant attack on hauliers up and down the country,” she said.

“Our businesses stand on the precipice of the abyss. Instead of supporting and sustaining this vital part of our economy, this government seems determined to drive it into oblivion.”

Those scathing remarks were ones which were echoed by north Longford haulage boss Norman Hall.

The managing director of Aughnacliffe based Hall Transport said the increases would add in excess of €200,000 to his annual fuel bill when factoring in his 44 strong fleet of lorries.

And, in a further startling revelation, he told of how other ancillary costs impacted by the war in Ukraine was gradually pushing more and more hauliers to the brink of liquidation.

“The even bigger thing is the difficulty in getting drivers in,” he said.

“You are pushed up as far as you can with drivers. I have gone to as much as I can but there are just no drivers out there and every haulier is facing the same problem.

“The price of tyres has surged as well. We were paying €250 a tyre but with the war in Ukraine it has gone up to €480 a tyre and then you have insurance rises, maintenance increases, everything is against us at the minute.

“I just don’t know what way things will go. If hauliers go to the wall you will have a serious shortage of food because at the end of the day there is no food on the table without them.”