Cabotage limits cost orchestras thousands

The "unnecessary nightmare" of cabotage is costing UK orchestras touring the EU thousands of pounds.

Music industry leaders called for a sector-specific exemption to cabotage in Europe at an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) meeting on Monday (February 7), saying restrictions – long established but rarely enforced pre-Brexit – jeopardise the success of the 2022 touring season. 

Current guidelines allow UK hauliers to make up to two movements within an EU member state after entering but they must return to the UK within seven days. 

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The alternative – hiring EU truckers – is an expense many tours rescheduled from pre-pandemic dates have not budgeted for.

UK symphony orchestras’ need for specialist trucks means they are likely to foot the largest bill, despite all 15 each owning a suitable vehicle worth up to £250,000.

London Symphony Orchestra recently paid an additional £20,000 for a specialist EU haulier on an overseas tour. Association of British Orchestras Mark Pemberton said these added expenses will make touring financially unviable.

Some may be forced to fly musicians and their instruments overseas to bypass road laws, which is as “ungreen as it gets,” he said. 

Travelling performers are also struggling to complete multi-venue tours under the restrictions. Anita Debaere, Director of Pearle* Live Performance Europe, said programmers on the continent are booking artists for consecutive days at the same venue as an interim solution.

UK acts are noticing a knock-on effect on their domestic tours too: “If you are denied going to Europe, you lose so much income that has implications on how much you can invest in the UK,” LIVE Chair Craig Stanley said.

Nearly half (44%) of live music shows cancelled in the first three months of the year in the UK featured international artists, recent LIVE research indicated.

Promoter and producer Harvey Goldsmith called the issue an “unnecessary nightmare”.

“Take us out of the migration department, take us out of the trading department. We are culture and entertainment. We reciprocate with artists coming to England and they reciprocate with us going to Europe."

Dual registration 

Introducing a dual registration option for truckers will not solve the problem, the APPG panel warned.

Under Department for Transport (DfT) plans, UK trucking companies that open an EU company, obtain an EU Operator Licence, and move a fleet of trucks to the EU will be able to register continental trucks on their UK Operator Licence and bypass cabotage restrictions.

But the scheme risks exacerbating a shortage of specialist drivers in the UK, with some trucking companies saying they do not have enough vehicles to split their fleet.

It offers no solution to touring groups using their own vehicles and does not address ongoing visa-free travel issues.

The DfT says dual registration will not be available until August, placing the summer festival season at risk. Small-scale and emerging talent are likely to be most affected if larger tours use up available vehicles.

An immediate cultural exemption to haulage regulations, akin to the temporary easement brought in for supermarket supply chains last October, was suggested as an interim solution.

Room for negotiation

The UK Government may still be able to renegotiate touring terms with the EU, if the political will exists.

The panel hinted the European Commission’s Department for Mobility and Transport may be open to future discussions: “The door is slightly ajar, but we need to go for them,” Stanley said.

The success of the most recent visa-free touring deal in Spain was attributed to the music industry’s involvement in discussions with Spanish ambassadors and Culture and Trade Ministers.

Goldsmith said a different perspective within Government is the starting point to finding equivalence in Europe.

“If you talk to real people in Europe, they’re just as concerned as we are, and this roadblock is because we are lumped in with issues that [have] nothing to do with us.”