EIRE-ULSTER TRANSPORT PLANS Dangerous Goods Plan T OWER haulage rates
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
and much more -LA efficient use of vehicles will result from a two-way road freight agreement which is expected to he concluded between Northern Ireland Carriers Ltd.. and Coras lompair Eireann this month. This will remove the long-standing restriction on Ulster and Eire haulage concerns picking up return loads in each other's territories.
Such a move was forecast in the article on the activities of NIC in The Commercial Motor of June 4, and the new proposals follow a visit to Dublin by NIC's managing director, Mr. Trevor H. Thornton. He told The Commercial Motor last week that he was honing for a really sound link-up with CIE to replace the present "ridiculous" arrangements which mean vehicles running light on return. The chairman of ClE, Mr. Frank Lemass, is understood to he anxious to get two-way freight moving.
As well as general. goods the reciprocal agreement may cover household removals and a common-user agreement on heavy haulage vehicles to increase utilization and save in capital investment.
This move comes at a time when Ulster's , new Transport has been given its First Reading. The Bill removes the Ulster Transport Authority's obligation to provide goods services, permits the UTA to shut down rail freight facilities, and provides the basis for a licensing system for road goods. Contrary to expectations, the proposed nominal
licence fee of El per vehicle is to be accompanied bY a form of conditional consent, so that a grant may depend on its effects upon existing facilities. Applicants will have to give details of areas to be served and freight to be carried. .
Meanwhile. development of UTA passenger transport on the same general lines as the freight side (where Northern Ireland Carriers is operating on a commercial basis) is foreshadowed by the news that a managing director of road passenger services is being advertised for, at £4.000 p.a. minimum. He will he in charge of a publicly owned company set up to reorganize the MA's passenger services and run them commercially.