The impact of last week's terror attacks on the transport and distribution goods industry is likely to be economic rather than operational, one of France's leading trade bodies in the sector, road haulage federation, the Fédération Nationale des Transport Routiers (FNTR), has told CEP-Research.
"The principal concern today is that there is a risk the French economy as a whole is going to suffer, including freight transport. The end-of the year festive period is very important for certain economic sectors in terms of turnover," the FNTR's Delegate-General, Nicolas Paulissen, underlined.
But he played down the effect of heightened security measures on firms' day-to-day operations during the pre-Christmas traffic peak.
"For the moment, the impact of these measures, such as tighter border controls, etc. has been extremely limited. We have already been at a high level of security (under the Vigipirate national security provision) for some time and very strict measures are in place. There's likely to be a tightening of measures which already exist."
Asked if shipper customers would be asking transport firms to step up security in the handling of goods, Paulissen said: "I don't think so. The main worry of our customers right now is what the economic situation is going to be like in the days and weeks to come.
“The climate that has reigned in Paris and its region for the past week is not going to benefit consumption levels. So to reiterate, if there's going to be an impact on our sector (from the attacks) it will be an economic one."
The possibility of staff being a security risk has captured the headlines in the aftermath of the attacks with information coming to light that one of the individuals behind the terror attacks had previously worked as a bus driver for Paris' public transit authority, the RATP, over a 15-month period.
This has raised the issue of the vetting of staff and how effective it can be – a particularly pertinent question at this time of the year when the transport sector hires thousands of temporary workers in the run-up to Christmas such as drivers, warehouse staff and dispatchers.
However, Paulissen argues that employers can't be expected to do what he says is the job of the police.
"We can't ask firms to carry out a role that simply isn't theirs. One can't reproach firms for hiring staff who afterwards might engage in extreme activities such as terrorism. It's just not the responsibility of employers.
“We are in the realm of confidential information which employers do not have access to. Is information on individuals who are classified as a security risk out in the public domain? I doubt it."
