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he Position and Future of Goods Haulage
Page 81
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An Encouraging Statement by a Road Transport Personality Who Has Been Largely instrumental in Obtaining Road and Rail Accord
By
Roger W. Sewill, M.A.
Director and Secretary, Associated Road Operators
IT is not proposed in this article to consider the position of goods -transport in the event of war. Sufficient prominence is being given to this at the moment, and perhaps too little to the alternative that after all it may not come, and that we shall be able to look forward to a more or less peaceful future.
The outstanding factor at the moment is, of course, undoubtedly the new road-rail agreement. It would seem, from the favourable reception accorded to this agreement by the haulage industry, that many benefits are expected to result. Hauliers have, apparently, by now accustomed themselves to the idea of some form of control of rates ; and although we have been consistently urged from some quarters to avoid, if possible, further control, it is clearly impossible, having regard to the enormous number of operators involved, to fulfil agreements without some legal backing.
There has been no difficulty in the past in arriving at what has been generally accepted as a fair rate for various classes of haulage work, and a good deal of effort has been put in to agree such rates throughout the country. Unfortunately, it has, save in rare instances, not been feasible to enforce such agreements, and it is solely to ensure that they are carried out in future that the proposed clauses are to be inserted in the projected Bill.
*Large Increases in Rates Not Essential al
It seems to be assumed that such agreements must necessarily involve a large increase in rates. Whilst it is true that many rates are too low at the present time, and in fact are uneconomic, what is more urgent is an agreement, covering both road and rail, which will prevent further disastrous falls. There is no doubt that the statutory enforcement of wages, which cannot now be long delayed, will make it all the more essential for operators to watch the rates which they are obtaining for their traffic; and it is therefore a blessing that the machinery for the making of rates agreements has been set up at this stage; for there is no reason why it should not begin to function in the very near future.
It will be remembered that, in evidence before the Baillie Committee, it was held that rates ought to be settled simultaneously with wages.
With the elimination of rate-cutting, the lot of all operators should be much improved, and, subject to the international position, I look forward to a time of prosperity for our industry over the next few years. At the same time, it must be realized that competition in future will be governed largely by the service offered, and it will therefore behove hauliers to increase their efficiency by every possible' means.
So far as long-distance transport is concerned, a regular. organized service, with depots, is obviously most likely to score under the new conditions; but it does not follow that the smaller operator, with the personal attention which he is able to give to his customers, will not still be able to hold traffic on trunk services, and more particularly, perhaps, on focal services.
Probably one of the strongest reasons for the acceptance of railway agreed charges by large firms is the elimination of the number of collection and delivery vans involved. Some premises are so badly equipped that the handling of a large number of vehicles daily from the loading bank presents an actual physical difficulty. The advantages are obvious where the number of such vans can be strictly limited by the ability to hand large blocks of traffic to one operating unit.
• More Operation Over Regular Routes •
The tendency towards operation over recognized routes will increase, owing to the fact that casual loads can be taken at only the recognized rate. The customer will naturally tend to send by his ordinary contractor, whether road or rail, and will no longer be tempted to send odd lots on vehicles casually arriving for loads on the basis of a cut rate. This does not.suggest, however, any form of route licensing, but is a natural corollary of rates agreements. The regular operator will not mind the casual vehicle on the route, provided he knows that the rate obtained is the standard rate, as it must be.
With regard to local agreements, there is an immense amount of work which can be done immediately on the .rates for such widely distributed commodities as milk, sugar-beet and bricks, to name only a few.
Altogether, there is a busy time in front of all those connected with the industry, and not least with the associations. The development of the activities of the organizations has reached a point beyond anything that was visualized even a short time ago, when their principal task was political. Now they are dealing with the actual "bread and butter' of members and their employees, in the form of wages and rates, and the necessity, therefore, of all operators becoming members of one or other of the national organizations is even greater now than it has been at any other time.