Irish truckers call to relax EU rules to smooth supply chains during Covid-19 crisis

EU rules for truckers should be relaxed to keep the supply chains running smoothly on the road and on the ferries during the Covid-19 crisis, Freight Transport Association Ireland has said.

Head of he industry group, Aidan Flynn, said the EU’s so-called cabotage rules that allow transport firms to deliver and pick up loads within the EU in a seven-day period need to be loosened to reduce the time drivers spend on ferries and to take account of reduced capacity on the sea lines.

It also wants permission to carry more unaccompanied trailers on ferries “to make the make the supply chain resilient during these trying times”.

Mr Flynn said the supply chains for supermarkets were being kept “hugely busy”, restocking the shelves, while heating oil transport firms were working flat out because households required heating fuel with the schools closed and parents working at home.

Transport firms serving the clothing retailers, pubs, and wider food sector had been hit by closures, he said. There had been no reports of disruption from self-isolation or from illness from the virus, he added.

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