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Avoiding vehicle detention might be
Page 80
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a matter of form by Johnny Johnson
In designing a standard shipping note, the Simplification of International Trade Procedures Board may have benefited operators by reducing vehicle detention.
BEDEVILLED by rising costs which make the economical and efficient use of vehicles a critical means of commercial survival, road transport operators will welcome any measures to expedite vehicle turnround.
Not the least of the areas where vehicle detention prevails are the docks and ports. Apart from the necessity to wait in queues to discharge export traffic — already partly alleviated at places by the appointments system --delays can be caused by documentation queries.
Lack of proper documentation is a feature for which the road haulage operator is often made a scapegoat. Often, the carrier is not the person responsible for the proper supply of documents but because the driver is the only contact which the dock staff has with the cargo he, and consequently his vehicle, is often delayed while inquiries are made.
Unless dock staff can quickly identify the company and person responsible for the documents, such delays can amount to several hours, removing a vehicle from revenue earning traffic till the matter is cleared. Thus, any move to ensure that documents are complete or, if not, make the source of the missing information readily available will assist operators engaged on moving export traffic to contain costs. This is vital in a situation where the only other remedy is a continual approach to customers for rate increases.
Although designed and produced principally with shipper in mind, a new standard shipping note from the Simplification of International Trade Procedures (SITPRO) Board could be of advantage to operators of freight vehicles.
Since 1970, a standard shipping note has been used at the Port of London and the new document has been developed on similar lies with modifications. It is intended to be used at ports throughout the country after it becomes generally available early next year.
Usually, it will accompany the load, but in ports like Liverpool, which have their own traditional procedures, it will, hopefully, be waiting in the dock office for the vehicle to arrive.
Unless the operator is also the shipper, the only part of the document which will concern the carrier in particular will be the two spaces at the foot of the document. In the right-hand box is space for the name and address of the company preparing the document, its telephone number and the signature of the person responsible. Provided an operator ensures that this space is correctly completed when the note is handed to him, this should guarantee that any missing information can be quickly obtained.
On the left, the person receiving the traffic at the dock will enter the name of the carrier, the registration number of the vehicle, the number of packages received and their condition and sign and date it.
Normally issued in sets of five, the form will be self duplicating eliminating the need for carbon paper. Thus, the copy handed back to the driver will provide proof of delivery.
The control of the printing, publication and distribution of the new document will be undertaken by the National Shipping note authority established by the Association of British Chambers of Commerce who will licence printing by individual shippers who wish to do so. Otherwise it will be available from commercial stationers or Chambers of Commerce.
As well as capable of being used at ports, the form is also considered suitable for use at inland container groupage reception points.
SITPRO has recommended that transport and other interests should continue studies to see whether the standard shipping note can eventually perform the function of other documents. In the meantime it is putting in hand a reappraisal of the "aligned' documents already in use. In this context it is seeking the cooperation oi the Road Haulage Association, the Freight Transport Association, the National Freight Corporation and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
I suggested to Mr Richard Dale, secretary of SITPRO, that one of the factors which might daunt small hauliers from undertaking the carriage of export traffic, particularly rollon / roll-off, was a lack of knowledge of the necessary documentation. Was there not a need for a form which would not only inform hauliers of the documents which must be available with the load but which would also serve as a check list?
Mr Dale agreed that this was a feature which SITPRO might well bear in mind for investigation. Pointing out that the new standard shipping note was not relevant to accompanied roll-on / rolloff operation, he thought that those operators involved in this kind of export transport would well benefit from a form giving information about the documents which might be attached.
Relevant extracts from the CMR consignment note, the journey permit and such things on an easily checkable form could expedite cross-frontier road transport. If inquiries proved this to be so, then SITPRO would give consideration to the design of a standard form in consultation with road haulage organizations.
If the simplification of international trade procedures is likely to benefit road haulage operators at all, then it is plain that road haulage interests must be sure that all the SITPRO activities are communicated to it and the interests of all operators, whether members of the recognized associations or not, are served.