‘We need help and we need it quick’ say Longford transport companies as fuel costs soar

Bus and transportation companies across Longford are facing the prospect of having to introduce extreme cost cutting measures and even potential redundancies as soaring fuel prices exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine take hold.

A special Longford Leader investigation this week has uncovered how a growing number of local businesses and logistics firms are on the brink of making potentially dramatic financial decisions in order to stay afloat.

It follows a week of mounting uncertainty engulfing a sector which has seen fuel prices skyrocket and the cost of oil reach unprecedented highs as a consequence of Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine.

A sizable cohort of those firms contacted by this newspaper revealed how the crisis has seen revenue channels disappear overnight with many being forced to consider axing routes and leaving trucks parked up.

Shane Carrigy, of Ballinalee based Carrigy Coaches, gave a sobering warning of the devastating economic repercussions awaiting an industry that was still readjusting from almost two years of coronavirus restrictions.

“I don’t know how it will all end,” he said.

“If this (fuel price increases) continues it will result in a loss of jobs across the industry.”

It was an eye-opening analysis which came as petrol prices last week rose to €2 a litre representing a near 30 per cent increase in the space of just 12 months.

John Byrne from Longford haulage and distribution firm Droplink said firms in the local transport sector were being forced to deal with a “tsunami” of revenue draining costs.

“Everything is rising and rising all the time,” he said.

“We are being hit with (increased) costs of parts, there is the fuel and then we have a labour shortage.

“No matter what we do we are up against it and all the time inflation keeps going up.”

John said a further headache confronting his own business was how a sizable number of bookings were contractually made.
“The market is a very different place to what it was two or three years ago and that's the difficulty,” he added.

It was a similarly dejected appraisal from Liam Farrelly from Farrellys Coaches in Kenagh.

He told of how escalating overhead costs, magnified by the volatility that now surrounds global energy markets had forced him into pondering more drastic streamlining measures.

“We might well have to look at some of the more unprofitable routes at cutting,” he said, as he called on government leaders to look at introducing a fuel rebate scheme to aid cash strapped firms like his own.

Liam said for all the commotion and drop off in revenue that surrounded the onset of Covid-19, the threats posed by soaring fuel prices pale in comparison.

“Business was extremely quiet,” he said.

“There was no tourism or private hire going on but then things started back before Christmas and we were optimistic about a return to business with there also being tourists booked in for the summer too.”

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar last week told the Dáil of the Government's plan to look at reducing excise duty to try and offset its rise on the consumer.

“The Government will respond,” he vowed, highlighting in particular the State's decision firstly in last September's Budget to increase fuel allowance payments and more recently through a €200 energy rebate.

For Liam and others like him, that response is one which is required not just decisively, but with ever increasing urgency.

“You just can't keep losing money,” said a sombre sounding Liam.

“We need help and we need it quick.”