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Machins are blooming in bulb country

Potatoes, sugar beet and flowers are not the only things growing H East Anglia, as Da\Aci Wilcox found out when he visited one of the area's most respected hauliers.

Pictures by Dick Ross

"ITS like a miniature Holland round here."

That can only describe the area around the Wash in the South of Lincolnshire where it borders Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. It's similar to the Netherlands in two ways; the flatness of the landscape and the agriculture that is practised. The town of Spalding could be airlifted across the North Sea and wouldn't seem out of place in Holland.

With this strong agricultural background most hauliers are carrying typical local products such as peas, beet sugar, potatoes, animal feeds and meal, plus, of course, flowers. One of the leading hauliers in this field is Machins of Surfleet. The company is especially well-known in local haulage circles because of its participation in the Road Haulage Association.

The village of Surfleet is right on the border of two Traffic Areas (and RHA areas) — Eastern and East Midlands, with the River Glen, which is the boundary, flowing through the village. This position has played a significant part in the history of the company.

George Machin, now a sprightly 71 and giving up his hgv licence just a couple of months ago, started the company back in 1954 when he bought a couple of Maudslay lorries. They were part of the giant sale of vehicles that went on all that year following the denationalisation of BRS by the Conservative Government.

George had previously run a small produce business and so it was only natural that he started his transport business by carrying produce to the markets for local farmers and market gardeners.

Since then, as George Machin put it, the company has just ''grown like Topsy". This was accelerated in 1962 when Machins, being a borderline case, was transferred from the Eastern Traffic Area to the East Midlands, giving the company the opportunity to change much of its fleet from rigids to artics in. the licence changeover. The fleet now stands at 57 tractive units, 115 trailers and six rigids.

George Machin has now retired from active involvement in the business and leaves matters to Jack Garn as managing director and Jim Welch, the general manager. Jack has recently been elected chairman of the Transport Association and is also chairman of the RHA East Midlands area. (Because of their closeness to the boundary, George Machin attends the Eastern area meetings and half the subscription goes to each area.) As general manager, Jim Welch is most directly involved with the day to day operations and he explained how Machins work these days, starting with the company's vehicle policy. It is a subject about which he can give a balanced view, having started with Machins as a driver back in 1958 and therefore appreciating drivers' likes and dislikes.

"In the past we standardised on AEC and virtually our entire fleet was made up of Mandetors. But when Leyland took over AEC in 1962 we weren't quite so • happy and became concerned about Leyland's in-, dustrial troubles. We bought some Marathons and eventually built up quite a fleet of them.

-Then, in 1978 we heard about the replacement for the Marathon, the T45 or Roadtrain, which was due to be launched within a couple of years. Obviously this would mean the residual value of the later Marathons on the secondhand market would drop so we stopped buying Marathons in 1978 and looked around at what else there was."

Jim Welch likes to buy British and so he was keen to give other domestic manufacturers a try, Finally, for comparison purposes, Machins bought two Seddon Atkinson 400-Series units, two ERF B-Series units, and two Volvo HO units. They chose the Rolls-Royce 265 engine for the Seddon Atkinsons, the Cummins 290 for the ERFs, and the •smaller 230 bhp TDls°." Volvo engine for the

F1 Os.

Said Jim: "We need quite a light unit to maximise the payloads — particularly when we're pulling our bulkers with peas or potatoes in bulk. On the other hand, we wanted a unit that was capable of operating at more than 32 tons because even a couple of years ago we guessed that the maximum weight limit would go up to 38 or 40 tonnes."'

On the subject of weights, Jim Welch believes overloading is relatively commonplace in East Anglia where so many loads are in bulk form and often go unchecked. But he said that even if it wanted to, Machins couldn't play the same game — -we're too big and well-knownand so the company has few overweight tickets to its discredit.

After operating the Seddon Atkinsons, ERFs and Volvos alongside the Marathons, what are Machins' conclusions? "Overall, I think there is very little difference btween them", said Jim. "All have their good and bad points but these tend to cancel each other out when you consider the vehicle as a whole," "For instance, the RollsRoyce 265 engines in the Seddon Atkinsons have been the most trouble-free engines, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they _have been the best all-round lorries. Many of the drivers like the Marathons the best. The availability of spares also varies a lot, depending on what part you need for which vehicle, and its difficult to say who's best in this respect. I think a good local dealer is very important. We also find that individual examples of the same model vary enormously. If an owner-driver bought one of our better Marathons he could be very successful, but if he bought one of our not-so-good Marthons he could go out of business! They are that different.

Generally, Jim thinks that an, operator who comes out cate gorically in favour of one particular make of vehicle is deluding himself in many cases. In Machins' experience it's not so Cut and dried as that.

When it had a standardised Mandator fleet Machins kept a comprehensive range of spare parts at its main workshops in Surfleet. But since the fleet has become rather more varied this has obviously proved impossible due to lack of space and the amount of capital that would be tied up in spares. So now, only routine parts such as fan belts, radiator hoses and light bulbs are kept in stock and local dealers supply the rest. In normal times when Machins are busy the units are double shifted and are clocking up 80,000 miles a year.

Jim Welch said he would like to get down to a four year replacement cycle for the units but has not been able to do so.

"Every time we get near it, we embark on some other capital expenditure so the vehicles stay another year. But in the last year or so the company has been able

to renew a large part of the fleet and many carry V or T registrations.

The other capital expenditure that Jim mentioned is on the building front and although the vehicles and workshops will continue to be based at Surfleet the offices have just moved to new premises a few miles down the road in Pinchbeck near Spalding. A new temperaturecontrolled storage shed is also being added to those already on the site.

Machins have another depot eight miles away in Holbeach.

This is in the heart of the rich farming area around the Wash and is surrounded by market gardens. As a result, this depot mainly serves the local market gardeners and nurserymen.

They can bring their own pro duce to the depot or alternatively Machins do a milk-round type collection service around the farms and gardens in the afternoon.

The various produce (mostly vegetables and flowers) is sorted at the Holbeach depot according to its market destination and then trunked that evening to markets all round the country, ready for the local greengrocer and florists' buyers early the next morning.

So the produce on sale in the greengrocers on Tuesday morning really has been picked on Monday! Some of this work is done on contract to a local farmers' co-operative.

Naturally, when carrying fresh vegetables and other produce speed and reliability is important and if the vehicle breaks down or arrives at the market late the goods will fetch lower prices. Machins have a small depot in Manchester which can act as a staging post for the longer Northern deliveries, while another depot is just being established in Ipswich, Machins' main customers are the British Sugar Corporation and Geest, both of .which have large depots in Spalding. The BSC factory is there to process the locally grown sugar beet and Machins are carrying the finished product from the factory to warehouses and distribution depots all around the country, A similar type of operation is being undertaken for Geest. Other regular loads being carried include meal and animal feedstuffs, dog biscuits, and bricks.

Because most of the trailers are 40ft platform skeleta is (mostly by Crane Fruehauf), they are suitable for a wide range of backloads and Machins do a lot of work carrying containers for Manchester Lines.

Machins' trunking work covers the whole country and so most of the units are equipped with sleeper cabs and the drivers do use them.

Said Jim Welch: "This does make them slightly heavier and so limit their payload, but on the other hand it does add to their residual value. Most of our units end up with owner-drivers who invariably want a sleeper cab and when we have sold nonsleepers in the past we haven't got anywhere near the same sort of price that a sleeper would fetch.

I asked Jim about any special characteristics or problems that hauliers in agricultural areas such as the Wash experience.

Business was only seasonal, he said. Naturally, the amount of traffic varies with the time of year and the produce that happens to be in season at that time. The busiest months are October, November and December when there is a Christmas rush. Even flowers are force-grown in the heated greenhouses so that they bloom for Christmas.

The seasonal nature of the work means that Machins have some peaks and troughs in their business which needs careful financial control. For example, Jim said he would like to buy his new vehicles so that they come one at a time throughout the year and are not all due for testing at the same time. However, this was not possible due to the variations in cashflow during the year.

Seasonal peaks and troughs also mean that expensive capital equipment such as specialised trailers can't be utilised all the year round. The potato bulkers that Machins own are a good example of this; despite being rather elaborate and expensive trailers with a conveyor in the base to unload them they can only be used in the short potato season in the autumn.

With such expensive equipment standing idle for so many months of the year Machins have to follow the farmers' maxim and ''make hay while the sun shines."

Britain's entry into the Common Market has had a twofold effect on hauliers carrying agricultural traffic. As well as EEC transport regulations to contend with, such as tachographs, new driving hour limits, and the like, the Common Agricultural Policy has also rebounded on Machins to a certain extent.

Various taxes, subsidies and grants have meant that certain crops or produce are more attractive to the farmers than others and this will in turn affect their demand for transport.

Jim did refer to the way in which farmers can get grants to build storage sheds on their farms. This means that they can offer storage space more cheaply than a transport company which has to finance its own building. This has affected Machins since much of their work involves storage as well as transport.

Some farmers have even gone one step further and invested in their own vehicles and can consequently offer a very competitively priced storage/ transport package. Without a sense of sour grapes, Jim Welch did feel that the grant system for farmers was sometimes working against the haulier.

East Anglia and Lincolnshire are notable for their lack of motorways, and Jim said even the main trunk roads leave a lot to be desired where commercial vehicles are concerned. A road that his vehicles use a lot is the Al 7 which runs through the area from King's Lynn to Newark.

It is a winding narrow road with ditches on either side which have claimed many a lorry, and Jim Welch feels there is a strong case for a motorway serving the Eastern ports.

An additional hazard on the local roads around Spalding are farmers' tractors, slowly pulling heavily laden farm trailers (filled with sugar beet at this time of year). These are difficult to pass in a lorry and can cause long tailbacks of traffic.

Indeed, passing any type of vehicle on many roads around the Wash can be difficult because the roads seem to meander happily across per fectly flat ground for no apparent reason.

Jim explained that some of the roads follow the paths worn by cattle in years gone by, and cattle are not well-drilled in the Roman discipline of walking in a straight line.

As in several other types of road haulage, agricultural hauliers are having to offer higher standards in terms of vehicles these days. Whereas a flatbed trailer would have been universally acceptable a few years ago, more and more customers — especially the large food chain-stores — are demanding that their deliveries are cossetted rather more carefully.

Jim said this has lead to palletisation increasing and the use of curtainsiders and refrigerated trailers is also becoming more widespread. Machins have added some curtainsiders and fridge vans to their trailer fleet and certainly seem geared up to meet any future demands.

The company's growth from two ex-BRS lorries to almost 70 artics has obviously not gone unnoticed and Machins do enjoy a good reputation in the area. Their active participation in the RHA and the Transport Association can only further enhance the company's standing in the industry.