Consultation outcome

Temporary extension to road haulage cabotage consultation

Updated 28 October 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Summary

This consultation paper sets out proposals for a possible temporary unilateral legislative extension of road haulage cabotage, as a tool to alleviate pressures in the supply chain associated with the current shortage of lorry drivers.

Cabotage (in this context) is the transport of goods or passengers between 2 places in the same country by a transport operator from another country for the purposes of hire and reward. It is heavily restricted both in the UK and abroad.

This consultation seeks evidence and views about allowing non-UK operators temporary extra cabotage rights within Great Britain for a short period of time, to support the resilience of supply chains within the UK.

The core of the proposal is to allow unlimited cabotage movements of heavy goods vehicles for up to 14 days after arriving on a laden international journey into the UK.

This should be compared to the current rights (applicable to EU operators only) of 2 cabotage journeys within 7 days of entry.

The proposal is that this extension will apply for 3 or 6 months, subject to ongoing review. The extension would not be sector-specific.

This consultation also seeks views and evidence about:

• should the extension be limited to certain types of transport (for example, of food, port-related or more generally) and, if so, what types?
• how long extra cabotage rights should be allowed and, in particular, should they last for 3 months or 6 months
• should the extent of the cabotage rights be unlimited trips in 14 days as proposed, or should the extension be limited to a doubling of the current EU access – that is 4 trips in 7 days – but potentially expanded to allow all non-UK operators to work in this way?

Whichever approach is taken, the firm intention is that this extension of rights would be confined to a limited period.

Cabotage rights

Currently, the UK allows EU heavy goods vehicle operators rights to undertake up to 2 laden transports within 7 days of a laden entry on an international transport into the UK.

This is in accordance with the UK/EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement^{[footnote 1]}. These rights continue before, alongside and after any additional temporary rights.

The UK’s bilateral road transport agreements with other countries provide good access rights for international transports by operators based in wider Europe and also some countries just beyond. They do not provide anything beyond very limited cabotage rights.

The European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) system allows international transport using a fixed quota of permits within a 43 state system including the UK and nearly all of geographical Europe, but it does not permit any cabotage rights.

An extension of cabotage rights may be applied to operators from EU member states, and those from countries outside of this group, for example, Russia or Turkey.

If so, in particular, it is anticipated that any extension will particularly benefit operators from both Norway and Switzerland as currently there are virtually no existing cabotage rights for operators (who follow EU standards) from these countries and they can access the UK through the EU easily.

In comparison, some EU member states rules in practice constrain the access of other third country operators to the UK.

Background

Over the past recent months, shortages in lorry drivers have been associated with acute problems with the distribution of food and other essential goods and there have now been representations to allow increased levels of cabotage.

These would be mechanisms to improve the supply of fresh food and other essential goods within the UK and to help to resolve problems in the UK as a result of lorry driver shortages.

These representations include a letter to the Prime Minister from 31 Netherlands-based haulage operators.

Before the pandemic, and while the UK was a member of the EU, cabotage comprised about 0.8% of national UK transports, equivalent to the work of around 3,000 permanent lorry drivers in the country.

As cabotage was restricted to 3 movements at this time, it is anticipated that if a short-term extension is pursued (depending on the exact form), this may offer a similar uplift in the number of drivers available, although there is substantial uncertainty about take-up.

Since March 2020, coronavirus (COVID-19), testing restrictions and other short-term factors have affected the ability to undertake cabotage, but testing has become routine and operations have adapted.

Qualitative feedback indicates cabotage is concentrated on long-distance movements and that, currently, recruitment and retention for these driving roles (with overnight stays away from home for UK drivers) is particularly difficult.

Some sectors (such as fuel transport and parts of construction) are not suitable for cabotage work including, because of commercial considerations, how international transport is undertaken and requirements for specialised vehicles.

However, the food supply chain and transports related to ports are in many cases suitable for cabotage operations.

In the past, due to the restrictions on the number of movements that could be undertaken, non-UK operations maximised efficiency for international transport with the help of cabotage rights.

It is expected that if an extension of cabotage rights were introduced, that this would be attractive from a business perspective to some of them.

However, frictions in the market, such as having existing contracts to fulfil, could prevent overseas operators from moving quickly to take up cabotage movements within the UK. 

The wider shortages of drivers in the EU may also restrict the number of operators who have the capacity to also serve the UK market in larger numbers, even if an extension of rights is implemented.

This consultation seeks evidence and information about the potential effects of the extension of cabotage rights, including take-up.

Wider issues

This proposed intervention is a short-term measure with the objective of increasing resilience in key supply chains. It does not diminish the importance of developing a larger and more diverse domestic workforce, increased retention rates and recruitment.

There is significant pay pressure in the domestic road haulage and these temporary cabotage rights are unlikely to adversely affect pay and conditions in the UK.

It is worth noting that allowing more cabotage is liable to lead to more non-UK lorries parking overnight at service stops or in laybys and similar informal locations.

Some non-UK firms have partners in the UK who would accommodate lorries in depots overnight, but this provision is by no means universal.

This change would also mark a departure from the principle of reciprocity (equal rights on both parties in an agreement) as UK-based hauliers would gain no more rights as a result of this move. This includes in the context of the EU. Operators based outside the EU (for example, from Belarus, Morocco, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey or Ukraine), although present in the UK in low volumes, would gain disproportionately high rights per lorry present.

Proposals

The proposal is to allow cabotage journeys within Great Britain to be done within 14 days of a relevant laden international goods vehicle transport into the UK with no specific cap on the number of trips, provided:

1. The relevant laden international entry takes place within 3 or 6 months of the change coming into force.
2. That this applies to any type of goods being transported.
3. That an international operator’s licence of the operator’s country of establishment is carried.
4. That a relevant laden entry on an international goods transport would be one permitted by UK law. It would include pursuant to the UK/EU Trade Co-operation Agreement by an operator with a Community Licence. It could also include entries further to rules established by the ECMT and further to other international road transport agreements between the UK and other States^{[footnote 2]}.

Cabotage to, from or within Northern Ireland is not envisaged, but may be included at the request of the Northern Ireland authorities. The territorial extent of the extended cabotage rights would be Great Britain only, unless the Northern Ireland authorities wish for the extent to be for the whole of the United Kingdom.

This consultation also seeks evidence and views about:

• whether to include the cabotage rights for all types of transport or for specified types
• how long the extra rights should be permitted (3 or 6 months)
• whether to allow cabotage for a shorter period after laden entry (for example, 7 days) and/or have a cap on the number of permitted trips (for example a maximum of 4)

This proposal would increase substantially the cabotage rights available to EU hauliers and could extend those rights to hauliers from Norway and Switzerland (who do not currently enjoy these rights), as well as to non-EU countries more widely.

The extension would be additional to existing cabotage rights and could be used in combination with, but not in addition to them. So, for example, if the approach taken were to permit up to 4 transports after a relevant laden international entry, an EU operator could do up to 2 cabotage transports of any type further to the UK/EU trade and co-operation agreement, with a third and fourth (but not a fifth or sixth) under the temporary extension.

Unladen movements are not restricted and do not count against the total permitted numbers of laden transports.

Questions

In responding to this consultation please indicate:

Do you support a temporary extension of cabotage rights?

Supply any evidence you have about the extent of extra capacity the proposed extension would provide.

Supply any evidence of any other effects of the cabotage extension.

Should, in your view, the extension be limited to certain types of transport (for example, food supply and ports)?

If you answered yes to the previous question, what types of transport should the extension be limited to? Should an extension be for 3 months, 6 months or another duration?

In your view should the extension of cabotage rights include a cap on the number of cabotage journeys following a laden international entry of 4 transports within 7 days, unlimited numbers within 14 days or another cap on the number of cabotage journeys?

Any other comments.

When supplying your response, provide your name, email address, the location where you are based and information regarding whether you are responding as an individual, or on behalf of a business or trade association.

If you are responding on behalf of an organisation please indicate how many people work for your organisation, and if that organisation currently holds a goods vehicle operator licence.

Proposed next steps

Following this consultation period, a decision will be taken about whether or not to proceed. If the changes are to proceed, they require regulatory change with the intention being that they would be operational as soon as possible.

How to respond

This consultation will run from 14 to 21 October 2021. Please ensure that your response reaches us before the closing date.

Electronic responses to this consultation would be preferred either by:

• responding to the online survey
• emailing your response to Freight@dft.gov.uk

If you are unable to respond electronically you can provide a response to the postal address of:

Cabotage Consultation
3rd Floor, Zone 19
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London SW1P 4DR

Freedom of information

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If you want information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, among other things, with obligations of confidence.

In view of this, it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department will process your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act (DPA) and in the majority of circumstances, this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

Confidentiality and data protection

The Department for Transport (DfT) is carrying out this consultation to gather evidence covering a proposed temporary extension to the cabotage rules in the United Kingdom.

This consultation and the processing of personal data that it entails is necessary for the exercise of our functions as a government department. If your answers contain any information that allows you to be identified, DfT will, under data protection law, be the Controller for this information.

As part of this consultation, we are asking for your name and email address. This is in case we need to ask you follow-up questions about any of your responses. You do not have to give us this personal information. If you do provide it, we will use it only for the purpose of asking follow-up questions.

For organisations, we are asking for the size of your organisation regarding employees in order to weigh your response accordingly, and for if the organisation holds a goods vehicle operator licence in order to understand your relationship with the topic.

DfT’s privacy policy has more information about your rights in relation to your personal data, how to complain and how to contact the Data Protection Officer.

Your information will be kept securely on a secure IT system within DfT and will be destroyed within 12 months after the consultation has been completed.

1. When the UK was a member of the EU, EU operators were able to undertake 3 cabotage movements in 7 days. Other lesser access rights for EU operators planned to be extinguished early in 2022 are one cabotage movement within 3 days of an unladen entry and access associated with combined transport. Combined transport involves the transport of goods between UK and EU where a lorry, trailer or container travels by rail, maritime or inland waterway services for more than 100km and is loaded or unloaded by road and the relevant road leg within the UK is either less than 150km from the inland port or seaport of loading/unloading or is to or from the nearest suitable rail terminal. The full definition is contained in legislation. ↩

2. The European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) rules provide for heavy goods vehicles to operate across its 43 member states using licences issued according to a quota. The UK allows access via the ECMT rules and/or bilateral agreements for non-EU operators based in all of the Western Balkans and former USSR (excluding the 4 central Asian countries other than Kazakhstan) and those based in Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. ↩