The Dutch crane association has brought the action after the government did not consult about its plans to remove the tax concession on mobile crane diesel fuel. Before 1 July, cranes with number plates were allowed to used untaxed diesel dyed red. Since then, they have had to pay 18c extra per litre of tax to use undyed white diesel, as other road-going heavy vehicles must do.
Director Lion Verhagen told Cranes Today that the VVT has three possible goals for the hearing: first, that the judge will completely block the new law; second, that the judge will postpone the start to January 1, 2009; third, that enforcement will be delayed several months so that the last traces of red dye could leach out of fuel tanks. Verhagen said that his sources suggest that traces of the red dye remain in fuel tanks for three or four months after a switch.
Although mobile cranes would no longer be able to use red diesel, worksite cranes – crawler cranes and rough terrain cranes, and diesel tower cranes – can continue to work on red diesel.
Verhagen is pessimistic that the judge will block the new law completely. As a result, he said that crawler cranes and rough terrain cranes will become more competitive in the Netherlands, because the price to run mobile cranes has increased.
