Articulation Cuts Dock Delays
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Faced with Rising Costs and Fierce Competition, it Has Been Found that 24hour Operation is the Only Economic Proposition
By G. Duncan Jewell AFLEET chiefly operating in the ports of Hull, Manchester, and Liverpool must be composed mainly of articulated outfits so that spare semi-trailers can be loachng while tractors are kept moving. This is the view of Mr. Harold Hunter, managing director of Hunters of Hull Transport), Ltd., whose operations include trunk services between Hull and Manchester, and much dock work in Hull and the north-western ports.
Of the company's 55 licensed vehicles, 37 are on A and 18 on B licence. Thirty-one are articulated units operating with 19 spare semi-trailers. Mr. Hunter is proud of the fact that his company have been using articulated vehicles for 20 years, starting drivers are employed at Manchester with the trunk tractors for day collections and deliveries in Lancashire. In these days of rising costs and fierce competition, Hunters, like most other operators of heavy trunk vehicles, have found that 24-hour operation is the only economic proposition.
There are also daily services to Birmingham and the Midlands, and a vehicle runs once a week to Plymouth and the West. The main traffic is general goods, with a large proportion ex-docks.
An important specialized traffic is the transport ot raw materials to Reckitt and Sons, Ltd., Hull. This includes nitre cake in bulk. Special steel-lined tipper trailers are required because of the load's sulphuric content. This material has been carried since 1955, after British Railways had refused to continue carrying it beCause of damage to rolling stock.
At first Reckitt provided their own vehicles, but after being used for this purpose they were unfit for other traffic. Mr. Hunter's enterprise in providing specially constructed tippers was attractive, and he was granted two A licences in September, 1955, for this work, and a further two in April, 1958. The nitre comes mainly from St. Albans and Staveley, and is loaded by mechanical buckets from the retorts. Like other hauliers whose fleets have grown by the purchase of small lots, Hunters found by 1959 that their Blicence conditions were impossibly complicated. An application to the Yorkshire Licensing Authority to "tidy up " the conditions was successful, and the majority of vehicles is now able to cover an area up to 50 miles from Hull.
Warehousing and distribution are undertaken for customers at the Hull base in Holmes Street and at Lorne Street, there being accommodation at the two premises for up-to 1,200 tons
of good s. Customers include Beechams, Ltd., St. Helens; County Laboratories, Ltd., Stanmore; English Electric; Gulf Oil; and Goodyear Tyres. Distribution services cover the East Riding and parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The business originated in 1870 when Mr. George Hunter operated horses and tipping -carts from Burton Pidsey. Mr. Henry Hunter, father of the -• present managing director, was driving at the age of 12, and by 1927 they had acquired two model T Fords and 45 horses.
Mr. Harold Hunter went into the business after serving in the First World War, and on the death of his father, in 1939, be took over as head. There were then 25 motor vehicles and 10 horses. Later the horses were exchanged for motor vehicles through the licensing courts, the last horse being disposed of in 1948. Foreseeing the coming of nationalization, Mr. Hunter incorporated a separate company, J. Johnson and Sons (Transport), Ltd., which operated nine vehicles for all the long-distance work and left the main company with 28 vehicles, mainly on B-licence local work. Johnson were acquired by British Road Services, but Hunters were able to continue on permit, serving Yorkshire and the East Midlands.
During 1953, Mr. Hunter was able to purchase the business of Messrs. Ulliot and Needham, with 15 Alicensed vehicles operating on permits between Hull and Lancashire, and on this was built what is now the company's main trunk route. Soon after, office premises and a yard were acquired at Lower Moss Lane, Manchester.
Over the past five years, a number of small businesses have been taken over, and additional vehicles and a number of conversions from contractA licence to open A licence have been granted by the Yorkshire Licensing Authority. The result is a sorrieWhat mixed fleet, but the company are gradually standardizing on Dodge chassis with Leyland Comet engines, including rigids of 10-ton capacity and " artic " units of 17-ton capacity. Twenty-five vehicles have been fitted with Comet engines, and with fuel-consumption rates averaging 12 m.p.g., Mr. Hunter is well satisfied.
Mr. Harold Hunter, junior, who served his apprenticeship as a mechanic and was a driver for a year, is the company engineer in charge of maintenance. For economic reasons, a number of Commer QX vehicles with underfloor engines have been successfully converted to diesel, using Perkins C 305, at a cost of less than £550. Although now 12 years old. their performance is comparable with that of new vehicles. •
New System
Starting in September, 1959, Mr. Hunter, junior, initiated a new maintenance system by which one vehicle at a time is taken off the road for a complete month for general overhaul.
and six mechanics are now employed full-time on this job. Articulation is continuing with tandem-axle semitrailers replacing eight-wheelers, and a change-over is also being made to York semi-trailers with fifth-wheel couplings. Michelin Metallic tyres are in favour and average 40,000 miles before retreading.
At Holmes Street, formerly the site of a tannery, extensions and alterations are in hand to give additional warehousing space and adequate covered parking for the whole fleet.