Kwikasair bases rates on 5kg per cubic foot
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• At a reception on Wednesday to mark the launching of its London-Paris-London express freight service next Monday, October 1, Kwikasair Ltd revealed that it was setting its cube conversion on the basis of 5kg per cut ft, as against the 10kg /cu ft used by most of its competitors in the international smalls business. The 5g figure is in line with the company's international standard.
Resting bunks The newcomer — a subsidiary of the Australian-based Thomas Nationwide Transport group, displayed eight vehicles in its lilac livery with handpainted orange and white signwriting. Trunk TIR vehicles are Eagle 280-engined Scammell Crusaders with sleeper cabs, but the bunks are for use only for resting, since drivers are booked into proper accommodation for overnight stops. Semi-trailers are Cravens Homalloy vans with Joloda equipment, the latter also being used in a Terrier 950 with Locomotors van body which is primarily for domestic trunking but is built to TIR standards.
Commer KC40 and 2500 vans and a Terrier 750 completed the vehicles on display this week, the latter vehicle having an interesting Locomotors body built to Kwikasair requirements. It has alloy mesh sides in 311 9in. sections slotted into side recesses, and is covered by a pvc tilt carried on a ridge pole and four alloy trusses. It can be used as a closed vehicle for c. and d. work, but rapidly converted to a platform for palletized goods — by one man, since the mesh sides are not difficult to handle even in high winds.
Because immediate clearance — especially with documents needing consignee's signature — cannot always be guaranteed, Kwikasair has settled for second-morning delivery on its service between the two capitals. Rates for this are £1.50 per consignment plus 5p per kilo; there is no terminal handling charge, but pick-up is £1 (free over 1000kg), export clearance /1.50 per consignment and import clearance £2.00. Onward forwarding at either end is, for example, 2p per kg up to 50 miles or 6p per kg over 300 miles.
The "economy groupage" service, which takes a little longer but uses the same PooleCherbourg ferry route, is rated at /1.0 per consignment plus a kg rate — eg 5p per kilo up to 100kg, and 3p per kilo over 1000k g.
Kwikasair plans to move to a purposebuilt automated terminal near Heathrow in 18 months, but now has 20,000 sq ft of approved customs-clearance terminal space at. Rockware Avenue, Greenford, Middx (tel: 01-493 8661). Similar facilities are available at Pantin, Paris.
The company has been granted an 0 licence authorizing 30 vehicles, and the PO has allocated the company an exclusive radio frequency for the whole of the UK for the R /T control which all collection vehicles will have.
Eye on Europe General manager Paul Brown said this week that as well as expanding in the UK, Kwikasair now has its eyes on services to Holland, Germany, Italy and right through to Greece, with company offices in each country.
The services will be scheduled, departing regardless of load factor; the express services will leave London and Paris at 6 pm each evening, taking the midnight ferry.