The Success of "Artco"
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THE first annual general meeting of Associated Road Transport Contractors, Ltd., The House of Transport, Tower Hill, London, E.C.3, was held on October 19. It was preceded by a luncheon, when the toast of the company was proposed by Mr. H. L. Walker, who said that members were not now received in different parts of the country as foreigners, but as friends; suspicion had been removed.
The toast of the chairman and directors was proposed by Mr. Hickman, who said that the company had been really functioning only since last August, when the Government Road Haulage Organization was dissolved. The work might be described as a mixture of co-ordination, confidence and sincerity. It had become a family of transport contractors, free to go their own way, but united.
Replying, the chairman, Mr. M. W. Harris, said that 1946 would undoubtedly stand out in transport history as a year of great anxiety and difficulty. With the election of an overwhelming Labour Government, business men had received the shock of their lives. Nationalization loomed ahead and threatened to stifle private enterprise. Artco was born in that darkness, and the baby, just over a year old, is looking healthy and making itself known all over the country.
The membership stands at 39, owning 612 vehicles with a carrying capacity of 4,113 tons. The company can offer the trader a network of services covering England, Scotland and Wales, such as no other haulier or group can offer. It has 63 depots, 43 fuelling stations, 33 resting and feeding depots, 39 repair and maintenance depots, and 34 storage and distribution centres. It offers full facilities for packing for export, shipping, forwarding and customs clearance at all main pars; air and coach travel and other services.
Recently he had spent a week in Sweden with 50 other members of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers, with Mr. G. Mackenzie Junner, Editor of " The Commercial Motor," who, with other Press friends, had taken a lively interest in Artco since its birth, as the leader.
Mr. Dowles gave the toast of the visitors and Press, to which Mr. Junner responaed, giving a brief rdsume of the haulage set-up in Sweden, where scope was given for a considerable amount of free. enterprise. The annual general meeting was then held, at which the following directors were appointed:— Messrs. M. W. Harris, H. L. Walker, L. V. Ward, G. Maidment, W. L. Simmonds, N. E. May, and Mrs. H. M. Borrowdale. The proceedings concluded with an enjoyable the dansant.