Terminal Delays May Spell Profit or Loss
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AI,s1important:factor in estimating the cost per mile Or per =week. of operating any motor vehicle is the weekly mileage. This becomes of greater significance when rates are being assessed. The running cost of a vehicle is the same per mile, no matter how many miles be run, but on the other hand standing charges increase as the mileage decreases. It should be obvious that any fixed charge bas,the same effect, and, practically, there are two other fixed charges to be taken into consideration when assessing a rate. They are theestablishment costs and the weekly profit which the operator hopes to make. Strictly speaking, the profit is-usually expected to be greater for a.big mileage than for a little one but, as a matter of fact, that still . further emphasizes the importance of high. weekly mileage.
For the time' being, however, I would like the reader to consider vehicle standing charges, establishment costs and profit as fixed weekly items. . It will be appreciated if that be done how heavily those three together must weigh in assessing a charge for a job involving a stated mileage.
. Now it is obvious that, given steady and continuous work throughout the week, the mileage which can be covered will be determined by the time spent in loading and unloading, a. circumstance which emphasizes the importance of that
factor in _determining the basis of charge for a contract of . . haulage. Exnmples of Handling Times
.Hauliers may' be invited at anytime to qUote for the haulage of some commodity that is new to them. The following holes cOncerning the tirhe-taken -to load and .uhloarl various materials should,. therefore, be of. value. I should begin by stating that, except where otherwise mentioned, these loads are assumed to have been dealt with bY. one man.
Foodstuffs for cattle to be transported from millers to farmers form the first example. One ton can be loaded in half an hour and the same time is needed to unload that Weight of the material. -Thither' in planks and"pieces," as they are called, can be loaded at the rate of one standard in li hours and unloaded at the rate of one standard in an hour. The weight of a standard of timber varies according to the kind of wood, but the usual figure for pine wood and material of that kind, as imported from Norway, Russia and the Baltic area, is about 2itons.
Furniture forms a load which is of sufficient variety in itself to involve considerable differences as between the time taken for one job and for another. In the case of a household removal, and the conveyance of a house full of furniture, the time is governed partly by the distance that the furniture has to be carried from house to van, partly by the work to be done inside the home in the way of packing and preparing, and in part by the layout of the house itself. As a rule three men are employed to load a single van of the usual .size, and they may take anything from four hours to ,seven hours—usually near the latter figure. Unloading generally occupies about an hour less than the time taken to load.
Hay in trusses of 56 lb. each, with three men at work, can be loaded at the rate of two tons per hour. Unloading can be carried out a little quicker, say, three tons per hour.
As regards beet, the time needed to load this commodity varies with the position of the heap of beet in relation to the hard road as well as, and this is important, with the..experience. of the loader. Two good men. under favourable conditions should be able to load a 'five-ton lorry in. 45 minutes. But if. the lead to. the factory is a short one, so that not much time elapses between loading one load of five tons and the next, the men quite naturally are apt to tire and the loading may take an hour. Latterly, of course, there has been a tendency to make use of
.a34 • mechanical loading devices in,.order to reduce the time taken. to load sugar beet and this in itself is an -indication of the importance which experienced beet hauliers attach to the time necessary to load the vehicle. They appreciate that it is worth while to spend capital on this type of equipment in order to save standing time.
Unloading of Sugar Beet " Unloading of sugar beet may take only 10 minutes if the beet be unloaded by a jet of water as is the case, in some factories, but this saving of time is all too frequently offset by the fact that the vehicles have to queue up in order to get into turn under the water jet. To unload beet by hand may take 30 to 45 minutes if the five tons have to be thrown by hand from the vehicle on to the top of a fairly high heap in storage at the factory or'fn one of the 'silos. The latest development is for the factories to provide a high overhead roadway with facilities for depositing the load by .tipping. In such cases 15 minutes is ample time to allow, for, because of the room available there is usually no need for the vehicle to wait in a queue.
The figures of time for loading and unloading of livestock vary very much indeed. Generally speaking, however, apart from extreme cases, the time needed to load: an average 5/6 tons livestock carrier can be taken to 6e, for sheep 20 minutes, pigs 40 minutes, cattle three-quarters of an hour. In connectiOn with the carriage of animals, the haulier lutist ,ne,v'er PverloOk 'the fact that the -vehicle rrrust be thoroughly washed out and disinfected between successive
• loads ahd an allowance of 30minutes must be made on every occasion. Another cause of loss of time in connection with the carriage of livestock is waiting at markets_ The usual procedure is for the haulier to convey the animals • to the market in the morning and then wait until the sales are completed before he can commence work again and take the animals to the destinations arranged for them.
How the Times Vary Flourin bags can be loaded at the rate of five tons per hour. This is the case when, as is usual, there is assistance available at each end of the journey. Bricks are usually carried in thousands, and 1,000 bricks weigh 21-21 tons. The normal time for loading or unloading 1,000 is half an hour, assuming that there is labour at both ends.
Coal can be loaded from the railway wagons into a motor lorry at the rate of five tons per hour. Unloading is usually by tipping and time taken is negligible, provided that there be not a lot of manoeuvring to get into position. Here again the operator should bear in mind the possibility of having to queue up for his turn at the railway.
Road materials can be loaded at the rate of five tons per hour from the railway wagons. If the loading is by chute the actual time of loading is minutes only; the time loss here is once again that of queueing for a turn beneath the chute. Unloading of this material, when the burden is not tipped, can be effected at the rate of five tons in half an hour. The time needed to load and unload machinery is so variable that it is not safe to attempt to lay down any specific period. As a rough guide take a figure of eight tons in two hours and about two and a half hours to unload the same weight of material. The reader may think it curious that in the case of this traffic the time taken to load is less than that to unload. The reason is that the faeilities
for., handling are nsually better where the machines are•picked up at the factory where they are made than at the
delivery end where very often the means.for unloading have to be improvised.
Now to apply one example of the above figures to a simple case of quoting for a job of hauling.
The first item on the list of materials which I gave anove was foodstuffs for cattle. The time taken to load and unload this material, according to accounts which I have had from various hauliers, is half-an-hour per ton each_
5-tortner Waiting Charge
lake as an example a five-ton lorry. Such a vehicle costs £7 10s. per week for standing charges alone; that is to say, for licence, wages, rent and rates of garage, vehicle insurance and interest on first cost. It will be observed that in the foregoing there is no mention of any of the items of running cost: the reader will therefore appreciate that there is no allowance whatever for any movement of the vehicle. If, therefore, the five-tonner which we are considering' be regularly engaged week by week_ on work involving an average of 44 hours per week, this E7 10s. per week is equivalent to 3s. 5d. per hour.
If now we consider the question of profit and establishment charges and if we assume that the owner wishes to make a clear profit of £6 per week with the vehicle, whilst his establishment costs are £2 10s. per week, the total is equivalent to 3s. IOW, per hour. The charge for waiting time, that is to say the charge for time spent in loading and unloading, or, if it occurs, waiting a turn to load or unload must be at the rate of 7s. 30: per hour.
Now, if there be a run of 10 miles between the mill and the farm, the vehicle will probably take an hour to travel the double journey. That also will cost 7s. 31d., just for the time spent in travelling.
The time to load at 30 minutes per ton is two and a half hours and the same time is needed to unload, that is a total of five hours, for which the charge of 7s. 3W. per hour must be
m ad e. Five times 7s. 3id. is El 16s. 51d., which we will call El 16s. 6d. That figure can be borne in mind as being the charge for terminal delays and will have to be included in every calculation no matter what the distance may be.
The actual running cost per mile of the vehicle of this capacity according to The Commercial Motor" Tables of Operating Costs is 6W. and 20 times that is 10s. 5d. The charge for travelling the 20 miles is thus 10s. 5d., plus the 7s. 3W. for the time taken in travelling, making a total of 17s. 80. The total charge must then be El 16s. 6d., plus 17s. 8W., which is £2 14s. 20., approximately 1 ls. per ton. This charge will apply only if there be no unusual delay at each end of the journey, no time needed beyond that necessary for loading and unloading.
In a case where the distance from mill to farm is 20 miles, a similar calculatibn, briefly summarized as follows, should be made:-Charge for loading and unloading as before £1 16s. 6d. Charge for one and a half hour's travelling time I ls. (to the nearest Id.); and 40 miles of running cost it Os. 10d. The total £3 7s. 10d. or 13s. 8d. per ton.
It may be as well to emphasize that the method of calculafion is to take the time for loading and unloading, then that for travelling, and to charge at the basic price per hour, which price should include establishment cost and profit, as well as the standing charges of the vehicle. To that charge must be added the running cost of the machine for the distance travelled. Be most careful when assessing the charge for travelling to include the charge for time taken as well as the running cost per mile. One of a fleet
.Outside the 25-mile Radius
To take one more instance before varying the conditions of the problem I will assume that this operator has been fortunate in obtaining a permit to travel beyond his 25-mile radius and the lead distance is 50 miles, so that the total run out and home is 100 miles. In that case, whilst the period for loading and unloading is still the same, that for travelling will be four hours, and the total time involved in the journey is nine hours, which, at 7s. 30. per hour, is
£.3 5s. 7W. In addition there is the cost of a 100 miles at 6W., £2 12s. Id., so that the total is £5 17s. 85d. and the rate per ton El .3s. 7d.
It is now necessary to point out that in making the above calculations I have assumed conditions which are more favourable than any cmintry haulier has any right to expect. I am referring in particular to the number of hours per week which I have adopted as a basis for the calculation. It may well be that; instead of the haulier being able to rind 44 hours per week for his machine, he is able to provide only 32 hours' employment. In that case, his costs are proportionately increased.
The total of standing charges still remains as before, namely, £7 10s. per week, and that amount spread over only 32 hours is equal to 4s. 80. per hour instead of 3s. 5d. For the sake of argument I Will take it that the establishment charges are less-say, £2 per week--and that on such a short period of work the owner is content with a profit of £5 per week. The total of these two items is thus only £7 per week, instead of £8 10s. per week as before. At that rate with the reduced hours of work for the vehicle the amount per hour is now 4s. 30. instead of only 3s. 101d. The total charge per hour, to cover standing charges, establishment costs and profit, now comes to 95. instead of 7s. 3W. Now take again the case in which the mill is 10 miles from the farm, the figures for charges for loading and unloading now accrue from five hours at 9s. per hour, which is £2 5s. The charge for travelling comprises that for one hour, which is 9s plus, as before, 20 miles at 60., which is 10s. 5d. The total is £3 4s. 5d., so that the rate per ton to earn the requisite profit must now be practically 13s. instead of lls.-as•before. In the same way the charge when the distance between the two terminal points is 20 miles may be shown to be 17s. 8d. per ton and, when 50 miles, to be El 6s. 8d, per ton.
Based on a 36-hour Week
Probably a fair estimate of the period during which the majority of haulage vehicles of this type are engaged in profitable employment is 36 hours per week. On that basis, with the standing charges still remaining at £7 10s. per week, the amount per hour on account of that item is 4s. 2d. Still keeping to the lower figure of profit of £5 with establishment charges of £2 per week, a total of £7 per week for the two still leaves the incidence per hour at 3s. 10d. and the total basic charge at 8s. per hour.
The charge for the 10-mile journey must then be made up of £2 for loading and unloading, 8s. for travelline time, and 10s. 5d. for running costs, giving a total of £2 18s. 5c1., which is I Is. 8d. per ton. Similarly, for a double journey of 40 miles. 20 miles each way, the charge would be 14s. 7d. per ton, and for a 50-mile lead, tl 4s. 3d. per ton.