For two years now I have been part of a government funded research project called ITeLs which stands for Integrating Transport and e-Commerce in Logistics Supply Chains. A grand name but all it really means is working smarter and increasing transport efficiency. The project is being run by the universities of Cardiff, Leeds and Ulster along with industry representatives such as Tesco and Princes Soft Drinks. We have been studying the effect of e-commerce and Factory Gate Pricing on transport companies as part of the supply chain. The government is funding this research in the hope of making the transport industry more efficient and therefore reducing the number of trucks on the road.

Last week we held a dissemination conference in order to publish our research to Industry. Over one hundred large hauliers were invited to attend the conference, not one turned up. However fifty representatives of other universities did attend so the net result was that two years research was disseminated from one group of universities to another group of universities.

So why did the hauliers not want to take part in this debate, which on the face of it will be crucial to their future business practices. One reason could be that the event wasn't advertised well enough but I think that there is a more telling reason. The transport industry is so used to being battered and not listened to by the government and its advisers that they thought it would be a pointless exercise, in other words, what is the point of joining this debate, the likes of Tesco and the government will only ever do what is in their own interest regardless of our opinions.

I think the hauliers do have a point, instead of working with the hauliers; the government wants to legislate against them. The government will not grasp the simple concept that the hauliers don't create the demand for transport they just fill it, therefore legislating against or taxing hauliers just makes life harder for the hauliers it doesn't change customers demands or the number of trucks on the road. A classic example of this was the Fuel Tax Escalator which led to the Fuel Crisis. The fuel tax increase imposed by the government was intended to reduce the number of trucks on the road, but the hauliers were unable to pass this cost on to their customers, so the extra tax just made the hauliers less competitive and didn't change the customers demand for trucks.

If the government really wants to make use of all the research that they are funding then they will have to encourage the hauliers to join in which means demonstrating to the transport industry that they will listen to their opinions not just try to tax them out of business.

The ITeLS project has one more year to run, I will do my utmost to persuade the other members that they need to bring the hauliers into this debate. As for the hauliers, you need to get involved, it's your industry that is being discussed and you must make your opinions heard despite the government's record of not listening.