The manager of L.F. Wade International Airport has sought to allay truckers' fears that imported Tipper Trucks could take away their business.

Operators are concerned the imported vehicles contracted for resurfacing work at the airport could be used to transport aggregate from Penno's Wharf or Tiger Bay, thus taking away their livelihoods. The airport is currently undergoing a major resurfacing of its taxiways and aprons. The work began earlier this year and is expected to last until July.

Self-employed trucker Scott Lopes said he has received several calls from concerned general operators about exactly what the contracted vehicles have been given permission to carry.

"Are we going to allow these imported trucks to be on Bermuda's roads and transport aggregate from Tiger Bay and Penno's Wharf to the airport?" he said. "Are they going to be allowed to truck aggregate, which the general trucker has been doing for years?" he asked.

Yesterday however, airport general manager Aaron Adderley said the imported 12.5 tonne trucks would not be used for general hauling outside of airport grounds. He said they are being used solely to transport boulders.

"The large Tipper Trucks brought in by Lagan Caribbean Limited as part of equipment resources needed for them to complete the project, are not being used on Bermuda's public roads to transport aggregate from cargo ships docked at Penno's Wharf to the temporary asphalt plant site located at the airport," said Mr. Adderley.

He said the temporary plant was needed to produce "the specified material needed to complete this extensive pavement rehabilitation project". The re-pavement of an area the equivalent of 40 km of road required up to 60,000 metric tonnes of crushed granite and sand, and 3,050 metric tonnes of asphalt cement. Heavy equipment and materials from Canada and the Caribbean have also had to be shipped in.

Contractor Lagan Caribbean Limited, an overseas firm which has worked on a similar project at Bristol International Airport, UK, has been working with local contractors to construct the temporary asphalt plant.

Mr. Adderley confirmed that local truckers would be used to haul aggregate from Penno's Wharf.

"Per the conditions of the contract award which explicitly calls for the utilisation of a Bermudian company, Lagan has partnered with local contractor, East End Asphalt Limited, to complete the Pavement project. East End has in turn, solely contracted local general truckers to haul materials from Penno's Wharf," he said.

"The large Tipper Trucks are being used on occasion as per the original scope of work, to transport a stockpile of large granite boulders from the Airport Waste Management Facility to the asphalt plant site located within the perimeter fence line of the airfield.

"When this operation occurs, having already secured the necessary approval from the Transport Control Department, all trucks are escorted by Department of Airport Operations marked vehicles through the airside security gate located at the southwestern-most corner of the airfield, known as Queen's Gate, along the main airport access road, to the Waste Management Facility, covering a total distance of approximately 1,000 feet in each direction.

"The licensed Heavy vehicles operated by local truckers do not have the sufficient capacity nor do they configure with the equipment at the temporary asphalt plant facility, to be utilised for this purpose," said Mr. Adderley.

Last night Mr. Lopes said he welcomed Mr. Adderley's comments, but added: "We really want to hear this from the Transport Minister himself (Premier Dr. Ewart Brown) - that these trucks will not be used to transport aggregate to the airport."

The transporting work is expected to be completed by mid-March.