Britain’s Road Haulage Association (RHA) is ‘imploring’ the UK government to do more to save thousands of logistics firms who face what they term ruin as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
In a release dated 20 April, RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett warned with no further government action, wide-scale business collapse could reduce logistics capacity by as much as 50%.
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He noted this would likely make it impossible for the sector to meet demand to fuel the economy’s recovery effort.
In an industry-backed letter to Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, he set out a series of measures to help firms navigate through the pandemic and into the recovery phase including: grant funding, a fuel duty rebate and improvements to furlough rules.
“At this time of national emergency our sector is doing everything it can to ensure critical supplies get to where they need to be,” said Burnett.
“We recognise we need to play the fullest role possible in the UK’s recovery and these measures would ensure we can do just that.”
A recent RHA survey found 46% of the UK’s truck fleet is not operating and 25% of drivers are furloughed.
