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ARTICULATION WIT!

2nd June 1972, Page 52
2nd June 1972
Page 52
Page 53
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Page 52, 2nd June 1972 — ARTICULATION WIT!
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

SOMETHING ALWAYS

IN BIND by lain Sherriff, MITA, AIRTE

An East Anglian haulier who runs a tight, taut ship

IF the Department of the Environment were to increase the maximum legal weight to 40 tons gross and 11 tons per axle tomorrow W. Carter (Haulage) Ltd of Melton, Suffolk, would be able to take advantage of the legislation immediately. Although operating at 32 tons gross, Carter has Volvo F88s with 40ft Crane Fruehauf skeletals capable of operating at 40 tons gross. The company also has flat semi-trailers which with a minor modification would also be capable of working at 40 tons gross merely by shifting the bogie to the end of the chassis frame, thus taking advantage of the full 4011 platform. These semi-trailers are fitted with 22,000lb axles, 16 in. diameter brake drums and 10.00 x 20 16-ply tyres.

This equipment is specified when the vehicles are new; it is not standard equipment and costs about £.100 above the basic price. Leslie Carter, the managing director, told me they worked on the basis of having to meet potential customer demand, and asked: "Can you imagine what would happen if the Minister made a snap announcement that he was introducing

40 tons as the top gvw?" Without waiting for my answer he supplied it himself: "All my customers would be demanding the increased capacity the very next morning", he said. When the last weights increase was introduced the company was ready for it and means to be so again next time.

With a 3411 skeletal and a Volvo F86 the company gets payloads of 22 tons 14cwt and this is the highest payload of any vehicle in the fleet. The outfit is used to carry heavy 2011 and 30ft containers. Mr Carter points out that 40ft containers are normally bulk rather than weight loads whereas the 20-footers are loaded to their weight capacity.

The Carter fleet, housed on a 14-acre site on the banks of the river Deben, comprises 50 tractive units, 100 wholly-owned semi-trailers with another 50 on hire. The company follows the principle that when articulated vehicles are used they should be employed to maximum capacity, that is three trailers to each motive unit. When the new weights and dimension are finalized the 50 hired semi-trailers will be replaced by

another 50 wholly-owned trailers built to a specification in excess of new legal requirements. "We must always have something in hand," emphasized Mr Carter, This philosophy also applies to the tractive units which are mainly Volvo F86 or F88s and ERFs with the Cummins NH engine. Should there be any increase in the power to weight ratio, the company is ready to recalibrate the pumps on the Cummins engines and raise the brake horsepower from 205 to 275 bhp. The Volvo output will be increased from 275 to 310 by readjusting the blower.

Constant use Although the traffic department at Melton does not know where the vehicles will be working until 4.30 pm the day before, every semi-trailer is fully utilized —

a sometimes as storage space for customers every hour of the working d y. Carter's traffic originates at• either Fehtstowe or Harwich — 14 miles from the y rd and when the destination is known the traffic man at Melton arranges to pick up another load close to that destination. The important thing is that the load need not nefessarily be going back to East Anglia what is important is that the vehicle is constantly loaded. It is not uncommon for a vehicle to drop a trailer in London, pick up another loaded trailer and run it to St Austell in Cornwall and then do a two-st ge journey home dropping off in either ondon or Birmingham before collecting a trailer for the last lee of the round trip. Drivers are seldom asked to be away from home any more than two nights in any one week.

When pricing a job Colin Carter, the company secretary, prices it on the assumption that there is no return load. In the unlikely eventuality of there being any dead mileage, this ensures it will be covered in the price. He is quite adamant about this and would sooner have his vehicles in the yard at Melton than have them running at uneconomic or low profit rates.

Normally. Carter will carry any type of goods to any part of Britain but draws the line at silver ingots, tobacco and spirits because of the high security risk. The company has learned the painful lesson of what a hijack is all about and 18 months ago found itself paying £70.000 as a result of lost loads. Mr Leslie Carter pointed out something not generally appreciated in the industry. High-security loads require two men to be in attendance at all times or the insurance policy becomes null and void. Consequently both drivers must remain with the vehicle throughout the entire trip, neither of them leaving it for either refreshment or toilet breaks.

Following its unfortunate hijack experiences and being acutely insurance conscious, the company now has a simple but very effective goods in transit policy with a Dutch insurance company. Loads are insured to the value of £70,000 for a premium of around £5000 a year. The confusing "small letteringassociated with

insurance policies has been almost entirely eliminated from this policy; the only exemptions on it are for an act of war or radioactivity.

The company runs a number of incentive bonus schemes based on a 25 mph average. There is an accident-free bonus, which is lost only when a man is involved in a blameworthy accident. There is an early-start bonus paid to drivers who voluntarily come out before the normal starting time. There is a drop and lift bonus and this refers to the number of semi-trailers which they drop or pick up in a day. Again this bonus is lost if the semi-trailer is subsequently found to have been carelessly dropped or in such a way that when it has next to be lifted the driver experiences difficulty in doing so. There is also a clean cab bonus.

Container park

Delays are a profit-consuming factor common to dock work. This has been overcome by installing a container park covering one acre close to Felixstowe and in addition employing a foreman, three shunters and slave tractive units on the dockside. When a semi-trailer comes off the ferry Bill Collins, the foreman, examines the tyres, and the brakes are tested on the run to the transit shed, as are the electrics: Bill advises the Melton traffic office of the kingpin location. The office then decides whether to send a Volvo with a sliding fifth-wheel or an ERF on which the kingpin is located at a standard 31in.

The Carter fleet is serviced at four-weekly intervals and vehicles have a major "dock" annually before the DoE inspection.

The maintenance programme is planned at the time of purchase and before the vehicles go into service. When a new vehicle is delivered Harry Hammond, a former driver and now the man in charge of maintenance planning, arranges the service days for a year ahead. It is the use of a time factor rather than a mileage cycle which makes this possible.

Each pre-planned service date and DoE date is displayed on a planning cum history board in Harry's office. DoE test dates have been so arranged that only one vehicle goes to the test station each week. This means that some vehicles are tested at 10-month rather than yearly intervals, but is of course in line with the Carter policy of always having something in hand.

Although each semi-trailer and skeletal is fitted with ISO twistlocks, drivers are also issued with four Span Set web lashings, with instructions to use two on each 20ft box. The lashings are 36ft long, 2m. wide, +in. thick and have a breaking strength of 88001b. They are made of polyester webbing and fitted with anti-abrasion sleeves. Obviously, with so many trailers and containers now designed for twistlock attachments, the straps are only an additionafprecaution. They were introduced because in the early days of the Felixstowe container traffic many Continental boxes did not have twistlock connections.

One of the hazards of articulation is damage to the semi-trailer electrics and brakes. This is particularly true when more than one semi-trailer is available for each tractive unit. The Carter method of full articulation operation means that semitrailers are dropped off at. customers' premises and loaded ones hitched up either immediately or within a few miles. This does expose the unaccompanied semi-trailer to petty pilferage of cables. lenses, bulbs and electrical and airline connections. Vehicles carry emergency lighting boards with reflectors, rear lights and side lights and 40ft of cable. This gets the vehicle home within the law.

When a vehicle returns to Melton and the semi-trailer is dropped at the yard it is checked for these defects. This is done without the assistance of a tractive unit but using two cheap and effective home-made devices, thus releasing the tractive unit for more profitable work. The auto-electrician at Carters, Keith Threlfall, designed and built a small portable step-down transformer which, with trailing cable, he plugs in to the mains circuit of the garage. In less than 30 seconds he is able to check the lights and traffic indicators on a trailer_ A similar method is used to check the air lines; a fin. hose and quick connector couplings deliver air at 240 psi from the air line in the garage through a reducing valve to 110 psi and a simple connection with a cut out which is plugged into the airbrake connectors on the trailer. Each line can be tested separately.

The Carter "little bit extra" policy is also apparent in the traffic office where the proprietor's sons. Cohn and Edward, together with Peter Carter (not a member of the family) are completely interchangeable on every aspect of operation, accounts and administration. The only other member of the staff is Miss Christine Brundell.

suppose we could tighten our belts and reduce our admin staff," Colin told me, "but by so doing we would also reduce our flexibility and our efficiency."

One other man assists in the administration; he is the night security man and it is his job to examine the journey record sheets which are handed in each evening. Any discrepancies in the sheets are queried the following. morning and the completed records are then filed in fleet numbers ready for visits from the DoE inspectors. There have been frequent visits by the inspectors who have, I understand, voiced their appreciation of the easy access they have to the maintenance records and the journey record sheets.

I asked the company secretary what action was taken if a man intentionally ran beyond his permitted hours, "Company policy," he said, -is instant dismissal. Our operations are so planned that a man need not break any part of the law." Working on the basis of a 25 mph average and having reduced terminal and dock delays to a minimum, the'company ensures each driver can be fully utilized driving for a 10-hour day. "In fact." says Mr Leslie Carter, "even with running time it's always better to have just a little bit in hand."


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