ICELAND Turns I
Page 48
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
.USSIA
Fishing Dispute Gives Russia an Entry into Iceland's Vehicle and Oil Markets: Road Transport Vies with Internal Air Services ys Harold Champion
NOBODY, not even the Icelanders themselves, would claim that Iceland is well known in Britain. Popular knowledge here of that land of hot springs, glaciers, the midnight sun and book shops is summed up in the questions asked me by the cabaret star, Josephine Baker, when I met her in Reykjavik's bright Hotel Borg a few weeks ago.
"And where," she asked me, "are the Eskimos and polar bears?"
I told her that the nearest Eskimo was some 300 miles away in Greenland and that polar bears were complete strangers to the temperate shores of Iceland.
Icelanders are probably the most literate people in Europe. They are used to a high standard of comfort. and can afford to buy it—although as things are today they cannot necessarily afford to buy it from Great Britain. They are possessed of high technical skill, so that there is no difficulty about servicing vehicles or maintaining road transport on a high plane of efficiency.
When I was there in June, the sun was shining brilliantly—one could take a photograph outdoors without a flash long after midnight--and at Whitsun this year the thermometer soared well into the seventies.
Nevertheless, only a small part of the island is inhabited. From east to west the distance is 490 kilometres (305 miles) and from north to south is 312 kilometres (195 miles). The total area is some 40,000 square miles.
No other country in Europe is so sparsely populated. There are 145,000 inhabitants, an average of three people to the square mile. Of these, about 56,000 live in the capital, Reykjavik, and in the smaller towns, of which Akureyri, a busy fishing port at the head of a long fiord in the north of the island, is the most considerable.
The rest live in small villages or on isolated farms and their existence is one long struggle against the turbulent glacier streams, which continually change their course, and the lava dust which high winds blow over the cultivated land, destroying its fertility.
About an eighth of the country is covered with glaciers—Vatriajokull, with an area-of about 8,250 sq. kiloinetres, being the largest in Europe. To the north of this vast area of ice stretches a lava desert. Man has succeeded in making a home for himself mainly round the coast, and of the whole coastline the west and south-west are the most thickly populated. To live elsewhere would seem to be too difficult.
Up to 1900, all transport in the interior was by packhorses. Today there are still no railways, nor are there ever likely to be. Road works have been carried out extensively and now the system has a total length of about 3,750 miles.
Coaches run on regular routes in most districts, but snow in winter sometimes makes the going difficult. The roads are in three classes—high roads through and between districts, district roads which, although built through and between districts, cannot be described as highways, yet are passable by mechanical transport, and parish and mountain roads, unfit for any kind of heavy transport.
High roads are from 13 ft. to 26 ft. wide, with a surface for the most part of unscreened gravel, although many of them have now to some extent been macadamized. On the whole, the going is generally fairly tough and the demand is for heavy vehicles to stand Up to it.
Another important feature to take into consideration is the system of bridges. Iceland possesses innumerable rivers, fast flowing and turbulent, and for the most part they have been spanned by narrow budges with reinforced concrete walls.
These necessitate the use of narrow bus bodies. I observed with interest the long overhang of the country buses and was informed that this was entirely due to the narrow bridges. Length, not breadth, was the only way of accommodating the payload.
Iceland is now laying plans to step up her tourist traffic and there is much to attract the holidaymaker in search of novel scenery without undue discomfort. Road transport now enables tourists to travel right round the coast, except for the area of glacial rivers just south of Vatnajokull.
There are some 250 buses, owned• by 70 operators. The largest company—Steindors—run 30 vehicles and many small 'owners operate one or two. It was interesting to see on the walls of Steindors' managing director's office pictures of 1920 Fords and Overlands which served in those days as general-purpose trucks and buses.
I am unfortunately unable to report much current enthusiasm for British vehicles. Most of the buses I saw came from the U.S.A. and Scandinavia. There are some Skodas. Many new 50-seat oilers are in service. I observed a marked preference for handsome 50-seat Volvos (Steindors are in .process of clearing out their older buses and replacing them with oil-engined Volvos), although there are plenty of Scania Vabis, Chevrolet and Ford, and a sprinkling of Albion.
I watched the time-expired Steindors vehicles being painted and patched up before disposal. Most of them date back to between 1934 and 1939 and are a mixed bag of Chevrolet, Ford and other American makes.
They are being iold at prices ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 kronur. The krOna is roughly 45 to the £ for external exchange, but its internal purchasing power is equivalent to a rate of about 70 to the i. So the cheapest of these old-timers works out at about £70, if the approximate internal purchasing power of the krona is taken as the basis of calculation.
Licences to run bus services are granted for five years, and the routes and frequencies are fixed by discussion between the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs and the operators. Most of the country buses are also mail carriers.
All bus and lorry chassis and engines are imported, but since 1945 an important bodybuilding industry has been established. Bodies are for the most part made of aluminium imported from Britain and the growth of this enterprise accounts largely for the rapid increase in aluminium imports, which rose from £821 for the whole of 1953 to £6,635 for the first five months of this year. Three concerns are engaged in this work: Bilasmidjan, Bilaidjan and Egill Vijhahnsson. _ A good example of the distances covered by bus services is the run from Reykjavik to Akureyri, which is 450 kilometres (280 miles). The fare is 170 krOnur for the single trip, or roughly £2 10s. calculated on my estimate of internal krOna. value. But British tourists relying on travellers' cheques for their exchange would find themselves paying nearly 1:4 for the journey. Fares throughout the country seem to average 36.6 aurar per kilometre (there are 100 aurar to the krona).
Another example is the run from Reykjavik to Thingvallir, scene of the 'first parliament. That costs 20 kronur for the 50 kilometres (30 miles). '
Iceland is probably the first country in the world where air services are providing severe corns15