Delays at Grimsby and Preston
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give Bri▪ stol haulier new work • Teuchers Transport Ltd., of Bristol, had its application to vary an A licence by the addition of five artics granted on Tuesday by Mr. J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon, Western LA, at Bristol, when the normal user was amended to read: "mainly pulp for Store Kopparbergs Berslags AB, ex Portishead, within 150 miles". This satisfied the objectors, as the original application omitted any named customer. Mr. T. Corpe, for the applicant, explained that Teuchers was now controlled by the Bristol and Provincial Property Investment Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the Hobbs Group.
In September this year large cargoes of wood pulp from Sweden will be shipped to a new terminal at Portishead Docks, near Bristol, he said. St. Annes Board Mills will act as the main agents for this operation and 26,000 tons of pulp will be handled for mills other than St. Annes. It is reckoned that five vehicles with a carrying capacity of 20 tons each moving one load per day, five days per week, would shift it.
Teuchers had been involved in an outlay of £100,000. The new vehicles had cost £50,000 and provision of modern transhipment and maintenance facilities had cost another £50,000. The freehold of a new building covering half an acre had been purchased.
Mr. G. F. Parsons, managing director of the London office of Store Kopparbergs, giving evidence on behalf of the applicant, said the traffic for Portishead was new traffic to the Bristol area because at present the ports at Grimsby, Preston, Hull, Plymouth, and, to a limited extent, Exmouth, were used. Because of delays at these ports, especially Grimsby and Preston, it was decided to concentrate on one port where a berth could be guaranteed and a quicker discharge offered, even though it might involve an extra day's sea journey.
Mr. Parsons said it was essential to employ a haulier who was used to handling pulp, as a few strands of sisal on a lorry bed could contaminate it to such an extent that a paper machine would have to be shut down. He said Teuchers and its drivers, in his opinion, had the necessary experience.