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Delays are a costly fad of life at Southampton
Page 28
Page 29
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In part two of CM'S investigation into troubled ports, Chris Tindall visits a haulage company in Southampton to finds out how the delays impact on its drivers, and its profits.
Mike waves his arm in the direction of his colleagues glued to their computer screens and says:"They are the best traffic operators in Southampton. They do what they do best all day but you are limited to what you can do. If it's good, you're coasting; if not, you're buggered."
Adrnin staff at the haulage outfit where Mike is transport manager start at 8am and they're immedi ately busy working round delays at Southampton Container Terminal (SCT). It's breakfast time and the queues are already hitting the twohour mark because trucks were stuck on their slots between 6.15am and 7.30am. Mike assures me that the situation will get worse later.
"There's often a knock-on effect and we lose jobs constantly," he says. Losing jobs is costly. If delays result in late pick-ups the customer often tells the company to forget it when you have contracts with firms like Argos, this is not ideal. Mike reports that his firm lost an average of two jobs a day last week, at an average cost of several hundred pounds a time.
Tuning is key when containers are 30deep in vast storage hangers-the company often has to wait up to five hours for a container to be located in another operator's storage area. despite using the CNS computer system which provides a direct link to the terminal and displays all available slots. Only one slot is currently flashing red,showing a delay.
The company rates CNS highly because the system reveals when its slots are free (it has five at SCT for its 60 trucks). The system also cuts down on waiting time and frustration at the port,not least because drivers can make use of the firm's facilities and wait in the office until their turn comes. The annual subscription fee is £2,000, but if a fivehour delay can be cut totwo,CNS is paying for itself.
Going back for more
By 12.30pm the company's trucks have completed the morning jobs and drivers are hitting the quay for the second time. I'm told that Wednesdays and Thursdays are generally the busiest days because this is when the big ships come in. The company uses the Vehicle Booking System (VBS) for all American containers because it involves a seal check this has been mandatory since 9/11.
But the traffic operators say the system is flawed. "It's not useful." says one. "There's no incentive for us to use it." And when I go to SCT I also discover that the security seal is not always checked.
Mike complains that drivers are hard pushed to get the job done at SCT while keeping within their hours and he admits there is often a lot of stress in the office: one traffic operator says his job is very much like juggling.
Cross with the cranes
Their opinion of straddle carrier drivers is not high either. "They don't give a toss about us," says Mike, staring out of the window at the straddle cranes looming on the horizon. The firm has four special trailers that cost £37,000 apiece -he is angry that the straddle carrier drivers often slam containers down and cause expensive damage.
By 1pm CNS says the dock is fairly empty, but collections are still taking an hour. I take a ride with Maxine, who says she once queued here for nine hours, but she reckons the company is in a better position than most because it owns slots. She points out the toilets and shows me where the firm's slots are.They're a 10-minute walk apart so a trip to the loo can take 25 minutes.
Back in the office things are slowing down as more drivers are delayed. One turns up 10 minutes late for his VBS booking and the office is forced to re-book.A traffic operator admits that even with the firm's slots and computer technology it still comes down to human contact:"We can ring the terminal and have a word. If there's a decent bloke on they can push you forwards if ifs a priority.., it depends who's on."
He believes the company might have to employ a night supervisor soon to handle the work spilling into the night shift.
Mike returns to the office and tells me the port's problem is its failure to develop nearby Dibden Bay to create extra capacity. The project is currently being considered at a public inquiry, with local residents demanding that the bay is retained as a nature re5 At 3pm CNS crashes. The I operators joke that this coin with congestion at the dock; the server is up and running the delays have died down.Ts minutes later the yard is filth with trucks.
Returning drivers are ke, complete their deliveries as as possible no one wants hanging around ser longer they have to. •