HAULIERS blockading Dublin Port are expected to step up their action today if there is no breakthrough in talks. Until now only container traffic has been affected, but hauliers are also threatening to target roll on roll off freight services which use passenger ferries.
The Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Dukes, intervened in the dispute yesterday, at the request of the Irish Road Haulage Association. Talks are expected to resume today.
The president of the IRHA, Mr Jimmy Quinn, said the 50 per cent increase in haul age rates being sought by his members might appear high, but rates had stood still, or even declined, for 15 years.
Hauliers transporting goods for major shipping lines, for industrial clients or forwarding agents, can expect to earn between £60 and £65 for delivering a 30 tonne container in the Dublin area. They are seeking about £90, a figure Mr Quinn says is negotiable.
The dispute is with Dublin Ferry Port Terminals but much of the hauliers' anger is aimed at Pandoro, the largest shipping line in Dublin Port.
Pandoro has now obtained an injunction against the IRHA, but over 200 hauliers in Dublin have gone ahead with protests.
To date, only companies serviced by hauliers have been affected. Large transporters with their own fleets of trucks, such as the oil companies, have not been affected.
Customers dependent on independent hauliers also have the option of diverting their business to other ports, such as Larne, Waterford or Greenore and the Dublin Port Company (formerly the Port and Docks Authority) is already losing £10,000 a day in harbour charges.
However, its assistant chief executive, Mr Joe Jones, said last night he was more concerned at the added costs the dispute was posing for exporters. He could understand the hauliers concern at low rates, but said that transport costs generally were falling.