British business group, Logistics UK is urging the government to keep pressing for a deal with its European counterparts.
Logistics UK – formerly the Freight Transport Association – said it was responding to reports that negotiations between the UK and EU are facing issues surrounding continued access to the EU market for British hauliers.
“Leaving the EU without a free trade agreement would hurt businesses on both sides of the Channel, putting pan-European supply chains at risk and potentially driving up the price of trade between the UK and its biggest trading partner,” said Logistics UK policy director, Elizabeth de Jong.
“There are two sides to every border and we are very hopeful the EU will recognise the economic benefits to having continued access to the UK market for its hauliers, while acknowledging the contribution that UK hauliers bring to their own market. After all, the EU’s hauliers do double the value of haulage trade in the UK that the UK’s own operators do in the EU.
“Logistics UK is hopeful a compromise can be reached in negotiations; without one, the situation for both UK and EU hauliers is very bleak, as the alternative permit system provides very little access on either side of the border and the resulting slowdown in traffic across the border would put the nation’s interconnected supply chain at risk.”
