Bell rings the bell
Page 57
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ONE group of road operators who are on a • good thing at the moment are those who haul containers for Bell Line and Bellierry, the Dublin-controlled Waterford-Bellport (Newport) and Middlesbrough-Rotterdam operators.
Bell have moved no less than 150,000 tons in containers through Middlesbrough in a year and the signs are that this truly door-to-door container operator will clock up more successes in the future. Bell were, I believe, the first to run a block container train, on the Freightliner pattern, between South Wales and Willesden, commencing at the end of last year.
Attempts to start this service earlier were frustrated by a lack of suitable rolling stock on the part of British Railways. Bell were also the first operators to open up a depot at the Swiss terminal in Cadenazzo where their containers are routed through to Italy.
The Bell Line road haulage policy is interesting. They reckon it is cheaper to operate their own haulage outfits and intermingle pri vate hauliers with them, rather than using outside contract hire. Thus at Teesport they have a consortium of hauliers to call upon, and the same applies at Newport where, I gather, Bell's haulier lists are currently closed, so many "volunteers" are there.
Of course, all is not honey when a container operator chooses to run its own transport. Local vehicle licensing laws have to be taken account of. Bell have not only our complica tions to cope with, but also strict licensing in Eire and Holland. The company is currently battling it out in Dublin with that country's state-owned CIE, which naturally objects to private haulier licences being issued anywhere in the Republic.