Road freight sector sees the light at the end of the tunnel

Many operators have launched new servicess to increase business potential. RH Freight, for example, has expanded its daily coverage of major European destinations by opening 27 new daily routes in the past year. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are the latest additions to the network, with Greece and Portugal likely to be next.

Davies Turner is also increasing frequency - first to Germany, but eventually to most major European cities - from twice-weekly to five times a week.

Allport’s central and eastern European division has expanded, leading to increased carryings of garments from Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania and perfume from Poland and the Czech Republic.

TDG has opened an office in Budapest.

Ceva and Wincanton have consolidated their services to promote pan-European products and standardise service levels.

For Ceva, this has meant creating Ceva Ground Services, while at Wincanton, every country now uses the same partners throughout the network.

UK operator Chambers and Cook believes the recession has made unaccompanied trailer movements more attractive and has set up a new subsidiary - Chambers and Cook Eastern - in Immingham to provide unaccompanied services from the north-east of England.

However, few hauliers see the benefits of unaccompanied movements for most business. Groupage in particular requires speedy transit and security concerns mean that most companies and their shipper customers want a driver to accompany the load.

"We would never allow our trailers to go unaccompanied, " says Munch. "When you offer a 48-hour service, the time is too tight."

Returned home

In any case, as Cuthbert points out, more British drivers are prepared to go abroad, as it is easier to get backloads now that the huge influx of eastern European drivers has returned home. This may be causing problems in their home countries, where there is not always enough jobs to go around, but it has brought a number of benefits to pan-European services.

Although everyone agrees that drivers from the new EU member states are generally hard workers, the service standards of some, particularly those orginating from the latest wave of EU expansion, may not be what western European businesses expect. Language is an issue, too.

Allport’s central and eastern European division uses its partners’ equipment and drivers "because it’s cheaper".

"We find equipment and service levels first class, " says divisional director of overland Danny Regan. But his western European counterpart prefers to rely on UK drivers.

"We move a lot of chemicals, " says fellow divisional director Chris Hale. "Customers handling hazardous goods have strict health and safety requirements.

Drivers have to understand English, so they can comply with these requirements.

Shorter transit times within western Europe also means there is less flexibility - a good driver can make the difference between good and poor service levels."

Meler agrees. "Western European drivers are better educated, better with languages and get on better with customers, " he says.

"We use eastern European drivers to go from A to B with little customer contact, but if there’s any complexity and lots of customer contact, we won’t."

DSV gets round the language problem by employing multilingual planning staff who can communicate with both customers and drivers. But this still leaves drivers without language skills at a disadvantage, as they have to communicate through their depot, rather than directly with customers.

Training centres

A network of IRU-sponsored training centres in all new member states and around the EU border countries aims to improve both driving and management skills.

"Newer member states have to introduce accredited training, " says Peter Krausz, the IRU’s head of facilitation, "but we’re trying to get non-EU states to do the same."

Drivers are not the only problem, however.

According to the IRU, many newer EU member states use modern vehicles complying to Euro 4 or 5 standards for international work, but older, less efficient ones on domestic routes. Infrastructure remains below standard too - even in Poland, where some say the infrastructure is 10 years behind that in the west.

"We are lobbying governments to improve road infrastructure, create more motorways and provide securing parking areas, " says Krausz. "But these are issues everywhere in Europe.

"We also need improved facilities at borders, with separate lanes for freight and, possibly, faster lanes for perishables traffic, empty trailers and TIR loads.

"There has been some progress. The Trans European North-South project aims to join up roads and create links between motorways where necessary. And an EU Baltic project will develop secure parking areas on EU borders."

Most eastern countries are fully integrated into Europe, in terms of customs regimes and border controls, but there are still areas that need improvement.

"Eastern Europe has embraced the free trade concept, " agrees Dave Barron, director of international services at TDG, "but they still need to bring in western management techniques, optimise their networks and ensure service levels are robust."