AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

. and Swedish Hauliers Test the ECE Note in Practice

14th May 1965, Page 26
14th May 1965
Page 26
Page 26, 14th May 1965 — . and Swedish Hauliers Test the ECE Note in Practice
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?

EXTENSIVE trials by Swedish hauliers have demonstrated the practical value of an international consignment note based on the ECE model as opposed to the IRU version. In the light of the intention of the UK to ratify the CMR Convention in the near future, these trials require careful study by the Road Haulage Association's international group with a view to determining which form of note is best suited to the needs of British international hauliers.

Consignment notes in accordance with the CMR Convention and the ECE layout key have been used in Continental road traffic from Sweden since March, 1964, and the two largest haulage concerns, ASG and Bilspedition, with branch offices throughout Scandinavia, have taken part in trials to test the ECE note from the operational standpoint.

Two somewhat different systems have been developed in Sweden. The ASG makes use of a multiform set, consisting of 10 paper sheets with carbons. The set consists of: 1.A journal copy which is filed at the haulier's office.

2-3. Waybills, intended for a forwarding office abroad and to be used (a) as a basis for calculation and (b) as a working copy.

4-5. Accounting copies for the frontier office, one to be returned to the inland office.

6. Tariff control copy of the CMR consignment note.

7. Receiver's copy of the CMR consign

ment note.

8. Haulier's copy of the CMR consignment note.

10. Sender's copy of the CMR consignment note, which is also used as a dispatch and debit advice to the sender.

11. Internal accounting copy for the Separation of different kinds of freight amounts (copy 9 was a statistical copy, now omitted).

The documentation procedure in the ASG case is as follows: (a) the exporter makes out a duplicating master containing information on a transaction; (b) the relevant internal and external forms are filling in from the master by some duplicating method (spirit duplicating). In the series of aligned forms there are included Customs entries, insurance policies, banking instructions, certificates of

advices, internal documents, shipping instructions, invoices and so on, and —in this case—a transport instruction; (c) the transport instruction is sent to the carrier's office, where a consignment note set is filled in on the basis of the information of the instruction. (There are office techniques which make it possible to transfer data automatically.) Calculation entries are made in the bottom part of the set. (The " windows " in the carbon papers prevent data being copied on irrelevant forms.)

Experience so far has been very good, even if it has not yet been possible to estimate the reduction of costs by the use of the system. The ASG to a great extent arc senders of groupage traffic,

with collecting points at the southern frontier of Sweden. The loading of groupage trucks has been much easier since the new system was taken into use, as collective waybills with weights, freight amounts and the serial numbers of consignment notes are made out mechanically.

In the system employed by the Bilspedition, consignment notes are made out by the exporter and handed in to the carrier's office. The consignment note thus serves the dual purpose of a transport instruction and a confirmation of a transport agreement (booking may have been made previously). Consignment notes will be made out by the carrier only if the note handed in by the sender is faulty.

The main difference between the ASG and the Bilspedition systems is that ASG prefer to make out the consignment notes themselves, which assures that the information in the consignment notes is correct and given in their own terms. In the Bilspedition system, completed consignment notes are handed in by the exporter, which makes transport instructions superfluous and leaves only the accounting -and manifest typing to be done by the carrier. Both systems offer advantages. Above all, however, they show the great flexibility of the systems based on a common layout, a flexibility which will make it possible for users as well as carriers to simplify their documentation work.

Tags

Organisations: Road Haulage Association

comments powered by Disqus