HAULAGE. CONTRACTING,. ON A LARGE SCALE,
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The Experience of a London Contractor Employing an Extensive Fleet of Petrol Vehicles.
N EVERY .WALK of business and commercial life
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aexperiencere pe r perforce eusually rl' brings astcleccueirses. thSisomeesseorfitillasi ' business qualification through the ordinary channels .of development, whilst others, possibly more fortu: nately situated, are 'able to profit hy the experience
of others. We are led to this dogmatic assertion as a result of a recent interview • We have had with .a haulage contractor operatipg on an exceptionally• large scale.
We have reason to believe that our " Hints to Hauliers "feature, -which we are publishing regularly, has been directly instrumental in introducing into the ranks of the haulage-contracting besiness many • • of our readers who from an inadequate understanding • of the " ins and outs " of the business had previously
. held mixed opinions as to the luorativeness or -other-.
wise of haulage contracting by motorlorries. It is our earnest endeavour further to aid these newcomers
by the judicious dissemination of facts and figuresgleaned from the experience of other users who are in eassession of intimate kndwledge of the characteristics and peculiarities ot haulage. contracting. We cannot, we feel sure, do Getter id this connee. lion thanquote the experienceof--Clifford and Son (1918), Ltd.; who must be almost without exception, • the largest haulage contractors in London. We recently had the pleasure of an informative interview., with Mr. E. S. Clifford at the cempanY'a headquarters in Fulham Palace Road..
" You say you have 43 vehicles," we commented, • after the necessary introductory formalities had been exehaa ged. " That, is so, and they are all engaged in haulage contracting." .
"No doubt you have accumulated this big 'fleet after many years at the work ? " " De you call Six years long? We—"
" Not at all,"-we-interrupted.-. " —started in 1913 with one motor vehicle, a Milnes.Daimler, as a matter of fact, and we subsequently added to this as business increased nritil, in January, 1919, We Wereinpreud posSession of .15 motor vehicles of different makes... Then—excuse me—"
A telephonic •conkersation told of a journey fixed for a couple of days hence to Nottingham.
"Let me see, what was I saying? Oh, yes ! Well, in January, 1919; we sold every motor vehicle we had•in service and replaced them by others, until at the
present time we have 35 Cornmer Cars, .ranging from two-tormers'up to five-tonners, of R.C., M.G. and C.C. types four two-ton" Guys, and fOur three-ton Bel-havens."
" Your progress and expansion has been remarkably quick," we ventured to remark.
"To an extent the war was responsible for this development, although, in my own mind, I have little • doubt that we should have attained our Present size in due course." -,
" Myreason for selling in 1919 and buying new vehicles'? Just this—I am a firm. believer in -entirely replacing a fleet of motor vehicles every three years. I maintain that most vehicles, if they have been used eittrefiallk will then fetch roughly about two-thirds of their original price. Taking the life of a, motor vehicle based on the usual rate of depreciation at seven years, it usually fetches after that extended use a nominal scrap v,alue of, say, ,100, Apart. from the monetary gain by the former procedure, you.have to consider that the longer -a vehicle is, kept-employed the More costly it becomes generallY to maintain.
" Then in a sense you entirelY re-organize yoUr transport at ine end ot every.third-year of running?"
• " Eiactly ! ft may surprise you when I tell yon that this procedure enables us to keep down: the number of the garage fitting,.staff ; this is accounted for by the fact that the vehicle-s are always in a better state
Of repair."
" Do• you undertake a number of long-distance
journeys? "
"Yes. In fact, this forms the essential part of our • business.. It is no uncommon thing for us to make journeys •to Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Taunton, Blackburn,—I could add ether names, but suffice it to say that we will undertake to transportany class of load anywhere throughout the length and breadth of the country."
" On long-distance journeys of this description how do you overcome the return load problem?" n Well, that has niese.ated' many difficulties in the
past, but at the present time we are receiving considerable assistance from local Chambers of Commerce, and such like organizations. Mr. Nathan Fine ,lends us considerable help so far as Manchester. and district are concerned. As we undertake many journeys to the Midlands, and particularly to LeiceSter, we have recently appointed an agent in that town. We keep him well informed as to the movements of the vehicles travelling his way, and it is his business to endeavour to arrange in all cases for a return load. for any of the vehicles returning South. In other instances we circularize many of the largest commercial and manufacturing establishments in the place to be visited, and I must add that as a result of this proeedure we have been more than moderately successful in securing many a paying return load."
Mr. Clifford went on to state that the vehicles used for these long-distance deliveries are very often away from town four or five days on end. The question of garaging the vehicle en route in such cases is left to the discretion of the driver, and as in almost every case the driver knows his road, this, as a consequence, presents. little ?difficulty. Although he is allowed a free hand-in this matter, he has to keen a daily record of his doings for presentation to Mr. 13enneft, who is responsible for the running of the vehicles.
"We owe much to our driVers," he added, "and we show them every consideration, for we realize that they are the-very hub of the business. It pays to study your driver as much as your vehicle, and in fact, more so, for one is mechanical and the ether is not."
"This spirit of co-operation has aided your progress, surely? " " Yes. It has, and what is more we get each driver to interest himself in the business by dividing a proportion of the profits amongst the whole of the staff. • Each driver benefits from the profits made by the machine in his charge, and as a result of this co-partnership each driver realizes that it is in his own interest to serve us well."
"low do you base your charges'? Have you a definite---"
"Oh! That is easily settled. The charge for transporting a load is based upon the value aed quality of the goods. Obviously, it is fair enough to charge slightly more for, say, a load of glaasware than for a load of waste paper, although if anything unforeseen occurs the liability is not ours. During our six years' experience with motor vehicles I should think That we have transported almost every class of load you could name, and, of course this experience aids us in calculating our charges for the transportation of similar .loads.
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"Diversity, of loads? Rather ! Loads as unlike as shirts and snakes have been carried. Our chief loads, however, I should think consist of foodstuffs, furniture, and manufactured goods. We undertake the whole of the London and suburban distribution of foodstuffs for one of the largest provision merchants, and so far as furniture transportation is concerned our removal department in Kensington keeps us pretty busy. The load of snakes I mentioned was transported to the Zoological Gardens."
We suggested as a result of this latter remark that now the Zoo has lost some of its last elephants his company might be called upon to tackle a more awkward load. Mr. Clifford smilingly assented, but we detected a faint suspicion of apprehension. "The tonnage you carry per week must be high." "It works out at about 1,500 tons per 5i-day week, and the mileage covered by eaoh vehicle over this period averages 400. Of course, you will readily understand that all the vehicles are seldom in use at one time. A few of them—" "Some of them are under repair and overhaul, eh ? " "Yes, yes! I reckon that quite apart from enforced stoppage it pays in the long run to give each vehicle a day in dock per month. It may or may not need minor adjustments or replacements of some kind, but by doing this you overcome the possibility of involuntary breakdown whilst engaged in transporting a load—a feature which if not of infrequent occurrence would soon cut our profits in half.' "Can you say something of the garage equipment ? "
"I cannot tell you much, for we are contemplating an early move from our present inadequate premises. We have just purchased a plot of land in the main
thoroughfare--I Palace 'Road—on.-we rwhikmh intend to erect with all possible speed an up-to-date three-storied building ; this will be equipped with modern machinery to enable us readily to effect our own repairs, and we intend to install a powerful lift in order to carry vehicles in need of repair to one or other of the floors. We keep a. good stock of spare parts ; in fact, two of almost every.detail part of the three makes of Vehicles which we employ, and so soon as we draw upon this stock for the repair of any of the vehicles we order a similar part from the makers, so that our stock is maintained at a regular level.
"At our present premises we have a 2,000-gallon petrol tank operating on the Bowser principle installed, and I must say that this works very efficiently and overcomes the possibility of waste—a paint ot importance when So many vehicles are Continually filling -their tanks. It has paid for itself over and over
again. We consume 2,000 gallops of spirit per week."
" Using so much petrol a week, you must view with .alarm the proposedincrease of 8d. per gallon."
"We do, and I do not quite know how we can counteract this monopolistic measure unless it is by a more effective co-operation on the part of haulagecontractors generally. • We appear to be the butt of railway companies, petrol concerns and the Ministry of Transport. Of one thing I am certain, and that is, if it, is made difficult and costly for us te operate our vehicles, our charges must rise correspondingly, which, in the end, must effect an inflation in the price of foodstuffs and general commodities. A succession of telephone calls hereabouts led us to remark that many orders appear to be booked over the telephone. • "Quite right—in fact, the major portion of our business is contracted in this manner."
Mr. Clifford was here called away on a business matter, but before departing he introduced us to Mr. Bennett, to whom we have previously referred. He handed us a copy of the driver's log sheet which allows for a detailed report of each journey undertaken to be made.
" You owe much of your success to the fact that you have reduced the running of your fleet to a sys-. , tem," we remarked after perusal of this sheet.
"I agree with you. This log sheet provides an indication of the cost of a contract and forms the basis for calculating haulage charges. In devising this system, my main object was to make it as complete as possible, but at the same time so simple that it
could be understood, by the average commercial-motor driver. System carried to excess results in complication, don't you agree?"
"Most certainly, but you have evidently reduced it to A fine art."
After inquiring about petrol consumption of the vehicles, which; On the EX. type Oommer Car, averages 6?2 m.p.g., Mr. Bennett went on to say, "We keep a very carefulcheck on the petrol consumed by every vehicle, and if we consider that it is excessive we endeavour to ascertain the reason, and, a note is passed on to the driver to keep a careful check on his fuel consumption."
"Our running costs? "
"is. 2d. per mile is near enough lor the four-tonners, and slightly in excess of this figure for the heavier types, but you will realize that this is a variaable figure.
One other question -we were able to address to Mr. Clifford, who had now returned. "We -get numerous inquiries from demobilized men and others asking our opinion as to the prospects of haulage contracting in London. What is your opinion? "
"Candidly, I am sure there are no prospects whatever for one-man with one vehicle. Of course, it is wholly dependent upon the amount of capital he is prepared to invest, but he will find that he will have to -work like a black in order to make it pay, and, let me add, he must also be in possession of a sound and practical knowledge of the design and construction plus operation of motor vehicles.