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158 
THINK BIG FOR BULK
Page 82
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by Paul Brockington, AMIMechE THE GROWTH of bulk transport for the delivery of powders, pellets and granular materials has highlighted the common lack of foresight in planning new premises to provide easy access for large vehicles, to site the storage containers in the most convenient place and to match the size of the container to the requirements of the user and the transport operator.
In this series of four articles on the bulk transport of animal feeds, chemical pellets and powders and of industrial coal, the examples given of the carriage of chemical powders and pellets (and of liquid loads) is the only one in which site difficulties and restriction on vehicle size are not mentioned by the operator.
In the case of animal feeds, many farms have inadequate facilities of one kind or another, some of which create blowing difficulties in addition to increasing the discharge time of the vehicle. And while the main problem of the company engaged in coal deliveries has been to reduce the noise of pneumatic discharge to an acceptable level at hospitals, schools and so on, access difficulties obviate the use of the size of vehicle that would be app-ropriate for the traffic in some cases.
This example of bulk transport is, however, notable for the liaison between the operator and the architects and heating engineers associated with projects involving bulk deliveries. And it also shows the benefit to the architect of exploiting the ability of a pneumatic system to discharge to a bunker system remote from the intake point.
While it is apparent that steady progress had been made in the development of bulk systems, one operator emphasizes that they could be greatly improved. And although the use of larger vehicles could in general reduce delivery costs, the most appropriate size is sometimes dictated not by access restrictions but by the necessity to deliver small loads or part loads and to match capacity to the number of deliveries that can be made in the day.
The value of the experienced driver with a country background is given special mention by a country operator. And another operator runs an hgv driving school. So maybe the most important facet of bulk-vehicle efficiency has been left to the last for mention in this preamble.