News / DP World to set entry fee for older trucks collecting boxes at Southampton

DP Word Southampton will impose a charge on older trucks calling at the UK container terminal next year.

In a letter to customers, DP World UK commercial director Aart Hille Ris Lambers explains that after cancelling a plan for a city-wide clean air zone (CAZ), Southampton City Council “asked DP World Southampton to introduce a scheme that helped them to put an alternative case to government”.

It would also help hauliers avoid a much larger – potentially £100 a day – fee for trucks entering the CAZ, said the letter.

Mr Ris Lambers said the port operator had agreed a £5 per truck charge through its vehicle booking system (VBS), using the automated number plate recognition  technology at the terminal gates.

The purpose of the charge is to encourage hauliers to replace older vehicles with those equipped with Euro VI engines. The £5 charge, from 1 January, will initially be levied on trucks registered in 2008 or before, which are Euro IV standard.

A second phase of charges will be introduced in January 2022 on vehicles with Euro V engines, registered up to 2013, and will also be £5 per truck.

Mr Ris Lambers said: “Based on analysis of current vehicle arrivals, this approach will only affect a small percentage of trucks; we expect less than 2% o trucks to be Euro IV by 2020. Revenue will therefore be very limited and will be applied to recover the investment in the ANPR system.

“It is difficult to predict how fast older trucks will be replaced, but again to limit the impact and give haulage businesses the opportunity to plan ahead, we have consciously chosen an implementation date of 2022 for charging the newer Euro V trucks,” he wrote.

The formal tariff announcement is scheduled for next month.