+353 1844 7516
info@ftai.ie
FTA Ireland,
Unit 1,
Airport Business Park,
Cloghran,
Co Dublin.
August 2024.
FTA IRELAND PRE BUDGET-SUBMISSION 2025
FTAI is a not-for-profit membership trade association for the Irish freight, passenger, and logistics industries. It is wholly owned and governed by its members and acts solely in advancing their best interests. FTAI represents some of the largest freight and passenger operators in Ireland, with more than 25,000 employees and 10,000 vehicles operating between them. Our mission is ‘to inspire, advocate and endorse safe, efficient, and sustainable transport operations and supply chains’. We are striving to achieve this mission through positive collaborative engagement with all stakeholders as well as through the provision of the highest quality training and auditing services that support a cultural shift to compliant operations, improved road safety standards and increased professionalism supporting the reputation of the whole industry. Our members are committed to raising standards of safety and professionalism. This is evidenced by our rigorous annual certification program TruckSafe™ / VanSafe™ / PassengerSafe™.
Transportation and Storage accounted for nearly €10 billion in Gross Value Added to the Irish economy in 2022. Imports and exports also depend on logistics and supply chain, and in 2022 Ireland exported €208 billion worth of goods and imported around €141 billion. Over 113,000 people were directly employed in Q4 2022 across a variety of roles. This is more than agriculture for instance. There are many challenges including skills shortages, year on year increased operational costs (exceeding inflation), decarbonisation challenges which are feeding into increased cost of services as well as many other input costs.
We welcome the opportunity to present our pre-budget submission to the Minister for Finance, Jack Chambers TD. We offer the observations of our membership on the priorities for government revenue raising and spending in the years ahead.
FTA IRELAND BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS
Commercial Fleet operators (those in the own account and the Haulage sector) are seeing significant increases in operational costs due to ongoing skills shortage, geo-political implications on the global supply chain, fluctuating fuel pricing as well as the demands to innovate and decarbonise. According to the FTAI Managers Guide to Distribution Costs Report 2023 fuel accounts for 41% of operational costs for Heavy Duty Vehicles. The most recent report identified average fuel cost per kilometre at 0.46cent (an increase of 17% on the previous year). Wage inflation exacerbated by the welldocumented skills shortage is seeing costs increase for drivers by over 6% year on year. These issues are not borne solely by the haulage sector who represent 50% of the National Heavy Goods Fleet. The Own Account sector have the same issues.
Fuel:
In Ireland taxes imposed on Diesel are as follows: 23% Excise Duty; 1.1% Nora; 9% Carbon Tax; .5% Better Energy; VAT 23%. In June 2023 the diesel fuel price was €1.52, in August 2024 the price is circa €1.70 (increase of 12%). The recent reintroduction of Excise Duty delivered a .03cent increase. This has the implication of increasing the average fuel costs by €1200 per truck per annum.
ALTERNATIVE FUELLED VEHICLES:
The Government must do more to support the freight distribution and logistics sector. We have proposals on how we as an industry can support and work with each other to alleviate some of the pressures, increase confidence in supply of services and spread the risk through the supply chain and passenger service operations.
ROAD SAFETY / ENFORCEMENT
The current number of members of An Garda Síochána attached to Road Policing Units is just over 62311. This number is not sufficient to facilitate fair and consistent quality enforcement of the commercial fleet nationwide. Enforcement of Commercial Fleet operators require significant competence by a dedicated enforcement agency that supports road safety, protects fair competition and supports the Road Safety Authority in their role to regulate commercial fleet operations. There are over 300,000 light commercial vehicles, 43,000 heavy goods vehicles and 15,000 PSV on our roads nationwide, that have significant roadworthiness, working time and road traffic regulatory requirements including weight & height Limits, Speed limits, licence and insurance to drive etc. With the diminishing numbers in the Roads Policing division the focus on enforcement is waning which takes years to replace.
The upskilling of Garda personnel in commercial transport legislation and regulation is essential in improving and preserving compliance and safety on our roads. Fair and consistent enforcement is critical to the sustainable implementation of compliant operations and drives a culture within the freight distribution and logistics sector that recognises the legislation and the regulations underpinning a fair, competitive safer environment for all.
To download a copy of the FTA Ireland Pre-Budget Submission 2025, please click on download button:
ENDS
Notes for editors:
For further press information or comment please contact Aidan Flynn on + 353 87 354 6954.
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