I Don't know what I was expecting, but it was certainly not the orchestrated procession of speeches with polite 'give ways' that lasted two hours. And only those with a part to play were in the massive Holyrood debating chamber, leaving huge swards of empty seats.

Where were the banks of order paper waving MSP's anxious to get their tuppence worth in on such a fundamentally important issue as the future of freight in Scotland?
Over the piece, the various party representatives had their say and particularly Fergus Ewing of the SNP fought the haulier's corner well, but all his sound reasoning was brought to a grinding halt by the chairman of the Freight Inquiry committee, Labour's Bristow Muldoon, who had latched onto one of the earlier speaker's reference to a Burns Report statistic, that foreign hauliers amounted to only 5% of the UK road haulage mix.

Mr Muldoon promptly suggested that having 95% of the home market action for any industry was incredibly good!

Gone at one stroke were all the arguments about foreigners, with their cheap fuel and paying no road tax, taking the bread out of Scottish hauliers' mouths.
Also, by this time it was too late to inform the summing up chairman that this 5:95 figure doesn't take into account the various levels of HGV activity in which foreign hauliers are simply not competing, for instance urban distribution (7.5 to 12 tonnes), timber haulage, agriculture and livestock, etc. Take them away and looking at the raw trunking statistic for long distance haulage over 32 tonnes, the figure is more likely to be between 15 and 20% being foreign.

I raised this very point with Fergus Ewing in the lobby afterwards and he could not hide his disappointment that the Scottish Executive in their written response to the parliament Freight Report failed to agree to carry out research as to the level of foreign penetration of the freight market in the Scottish haulage industry.
'Since they have refused to do so, only agreeing to 'comment' on this matter, I suggest that Transport News invites its readers to send in their views,' said the Inverness East MSP.

'If we look specifically at long distance haulage at over 32 tonnes gross, the level of Scottish freight carried out by foreign lorries must be much more than Bristow Muldoon's 5%.'

'Given that this is so, surely there is a greater need for research than ever before. I am also urging the Scottish Executive to conduct that research, involving the RHA and FTA in the task.'

'The freight industry is too important to Scotland for the government to do nothing. Apart from paying no tax for the use of the roads, foreign lorries are not policed, either in obedience of road traffic law on parking or speeding, nor on the condition or roadworthiness of their vehicles in the same way or to the same standard in Scotland or indeed the UK as Scottish and English lorries are.'

'This is outrageous and discriminatory. Government in London has failed the Scottish haulage industry with its highest diesel tax in Europe, and its 'helping hand' policy to foreign operators.'

Summing up in the lobby, Fergus Ewing suggested, 'It is a pretty rum type of government that hands out massive advantages in tax and waives the red tape for foreign businesses while taxing home business and imposing fully the red tape here.'

Back to the predictable oratories and responses in the debating den, committee chairman Bristow Muldoon began the proceedings by acknowledging the initiative of RHA Scotland regional director Phil Flanders that generated the inquiry.

The key conclusion from various venues and site visits were that at 70%, road haulage was Scotland's dominant mode of freight transport, although it would be advantageous for rail freight to work in partnership, with Freight Facilities Grants being encouraged.

Fergus Ewing was first into bat with a series of rousing statistics centering on 137,000 road haulage jobs in Scotland, how clean trucks had become environmentally since 1991 and, if there was no road haulage industry, it would take only three days to empty supermarket shelves.

He also pushed for the A9 to have the maximum speed limit for HGVs raised to 50mph and, with a nifty bit of party politics suggested that the purposed tunnel to be built under the main runway at Edinburgh Airport should be shelved in favour of starting the second Forth road crossing now!

But back to business, he asked, 'how can hauliers compete with two hands tied behind their back. All they get is unfair competition.'

The Conservative division pushed for a joint London and Edinburgh MP and MSP committee to look into the problem stating that 'we have failed to develop the concept of joint committees.' However, the party pushed for improvements in Scottish roads to make them fit for purpose, 'for after all, the Scottish government must bear the responsibility for freezing road spending when coming to power - and now we have a back log! Also, as far as the Forth road bridge second crossing is concerned, complacency is alive and well at Holyrood!'

The Tories also suggested that the road haulage industry came out of the inquiry well and the rail network on the other hand should be made to be more 'open'.
Ritchies Training Centre in Glasgow was mentioned on the 'floor' in relation to their initiatives in attempting to solve the driver shortage problem.
Among other suggestions was a push for water borne transport and rail links into forestry areas where roads are not built for timber traffic.

Still on rail freight, it was revealed in the debate that the Freight Facilities Grant to date had achieved less than a 2% reduction in road freight but this did not stop a call for an upgrade of the Inverness/Aberdeen line.

SNP member Kenny MacAskill went straight for the foreign drivers whom he described as a hazard, undermining our own industry. 'We will lose good companies due to unfair competition particularly on fuel costs. What we are creating is a Trojan horse. This must change and we should support a Scottish success story,' he suggested.
'We cannot do without road haulage and we also have to make sure road haulage can integrate with all other forms of transport.'

'The big growth will be in a new infrastructure that works for all transport providers with road, rail and the 'northern motorway of the sea', as Scotland plies a route to Russia via Scapa.

The chamber was reminded on numerous occasions that freight is becoming much more multi-modal and Skills for Logistics was praised for their efforts in training people accordingly.

The Tories came back with a late demand to dual the A9 Perth to Inverness road, suggesting to the Greens that new roads can be environmentally friendly and stressing that 'all parties should stand up to the Talabans of the anti-car and trucks lobbies and build more roads!'

But the big issue, as it transpired, was the Forth Road Bridge replacement with the majority of speakers suggesting that the longer we prevaricate, the worse the problem will become.

'The Scottish Executive is sleep walking this Scottish economy into a disaster,' stressed one disgruntled member.

Scottish Transport Minister Tavish Scott agreed that the freight transport industry is fundamental to the growth of Scotland's economy and hinted that a freight action
plan could be available later this year. He also shared industry concerns over foreign hauliers.

He also recognised that the number of vans in Scotland had grown dramatically and that we should now be looking to training van drivers.

It was noted that the well-informed Transport Minister had a copy of the current issue of Transport News on his desk in the chamber…

And so the debate concluded with the damning reference of 95% market share. MSP Bristow Muldoon also suggested that in the case of the A9, safety issues had to come first before increased speeds, but he did agree that Scotland must have an efficient road network to help save emissions which are decreased as long as vehicles are kept on the move.