AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Still born to run?

11th October 2012
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 25, 11th October 2012 — Still born to run?
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

In this highly organised, technical age with sat-nav, route planning and firms that boast multiple depots throughout the country, is there still a role for traditional tramping?

Words: Lucy Radley Running vehicles on a one driver, one truck basis, sending them out at the beginning of the week to go from job to job before returning home at the weekend, has been a cornerstone of the UK road transport industry for years. It has shaped everything from the design of vehicles, with the introduction of sleeper cabs and manufacturers’ attempts to create a larger living space for drivers without reducing cargo capacity, to industry phrases such as ‘tramping’, ‘down the road’, and ‘stopping out’.

Tramping has changed radically over the years. There are plenty of old-timers who can tell tales of finding their own backloads and jobs, sleeping across the seats with a plank for a mattress, dossing down in flea-ridden digs and eating in smoky transport cafes before going back out into a drafty old wagon. Many would argue that what drivers do these days isn’t actually tramping – they have loads sent to them by phone or telematics systems, pass through their own yard multiple times in a week and have a rough idea of when they’re likely to get back.

With larger haulage operations boasting multiple depots across the UK, the incidence of vehicles being out all week is lower than ever. In a country as small as ours, the question has to be asked whether tramping has had its day. Why waste valuable earning time waiting for a driver to have nine or 11 hours off when you can trunk everything between hubs and run all your vehicles on double shifts? Why pay for secure parking when your freight can be safely tucked up in your own premises? Yet you only have to look in any truckstop, lay-by or MSA to know it’s still happening, and in these straitened times no-one would be doing it without good reason.

CM asked three major hauliers for their thoughts and where they saw things heading in the future. Each of these companies works in a different part of the industry, and each has a different approach to vehicle utilisation. Eddie Stobart still uses trampers on a large scale, Fowler Welch Coolchain uses some vehicles this way but is looking to reduce that number and Wincanton has almost completely abandoned the practice.

John Kerrigan is national operations director at Fowler Welch Coolchain, which also has a countrywide network of depots and bases, and is taking advantage of that to increase the number of vehicles that can be double-shifted. The company says today’s drivers have different expectations, so this approach has made recruitment easier.

“It is true to say that the dependency on trampers has reduced over the years within Fowler Welch Coolchain,” says Kerrigan.

“As our network coverage has grown, we are able to utilise our own depots in a much more efficient manner for trunks, trailer changeovers and reloads. Perhaps more importantly, the need to ensure our vehicles are utilised on a 24/7 basis to reduce overall cost for our customers means we can’t afford a high percentage of vehicles parked up for 11 hours at a time. We have also found the younger generation of LGV drivers coming through are more reluctant to undertake tramping work for social and often family reasons, which suits our evolving model.” It’s not an approach he feels will one day be rolled out across the entire operation, however. “We still retain a percentage of drivers across all of our sites who will start their shifts willing and prepared to have ‘nights out’ in their vehicles to suit the needs of our business. Road traffic conditions, turnaround times at delivery points and the volatility of customer orders will often result in unplanned nights out for our drivers to ensure we match our customers’ demands. For these reasons, along with the tachograph regulations and the Working Time Directive, I don’t think eliminating tramping is a viable plan.” Wincanton is responsible for around 4,000 vehicles engaged in a vast spread of work – everything from bulk powder tankers and home delivery vans to construction vehicles fitted with their own cranes and longer trailers used for trunking operations. Some are dedicated to specific contracts, some are operated on a shared-user basis and there’s also a ‘networked fleet’ that engages in a mix of the two. With such a large reach across the country, the company is attempting to eliminate tramping entirely, with no plans to bring it back in the foreseeable future.

Richard Smith, general manager for transport at the group, says: “Our aim for our operations is to maximise assets, reduce empty running to a minimum and keep costs down, while always maintaining the required level of customer service. How we operate our fleet depends on customer profiles, which can vary depending on their sector and requirements. As a result, where appropriate, we do still use vehicles that will spend a night out and, on occasions, will be out every night of the week. But this applies to less than 5% of the total daily volume of our networked fleet, which is planned and managed from our regional transport centres across the UK and used for a variety of customers.” Does he think the rest of the industry should be looking to follow Wincanton’s lead? “Yes, where the sector allows it. For example, the retail environment is a 24/7 dynamic industry that allows lean networks to evolve and, as a result, we have been able to drive greater integration and collaboration between customers and their fleets, resulting in fleet optimisation without the need for tramping.” Smith continues: “We’ve also been able to supplement retail fleets during their peak trading period with our construction fleet that is traditionally slow at the same time.” Immense size is a luxury not everyone can share – nor would everyone want to, bringing as it does its own particular challenges. Perhaps the best way forward is for hauliers to work together on a greater scale, a practice already seen in various forms across the industry. The pallet networks have grown from demand for precisely this kind of co-operation within the small load sector, and collaborations, such as Jigsaw and the Linq Alliance, continue to deliver results.

Even the largest of companies can’t afford to dismiss this solution. Smith says: “Collaboration represents a great opportunity and is a practice that we carry out.” Kerrigan agrees: “We have good relationships with hauliers across the UK, which ensures our fleet can run efficiently and, where possible, on 12-hour round-trip shifts. We work with several hauliers as subcontractors for us, to provide them with the same benefit we seek from others.” While changes aren’t going to happen overnight, it will be interesting to see how many trampers have finally been eliminated after another decade of industry evolution. Our guess is the majority, but it’s hard to see that there will ever be a day when no UK driver ever has a night out. As long as there are still remote areas in Scotland and the West Country and delays at DCs, transport will be an unpredictable business and those working within it are flexible enough to overcome that. Who knows, perhaps the ongoing reduction in numbers will ensure the current parking situation takes care of itself – but that’s a whole other story. ■


comments powered by Disqus