WHAT TO CHARGI FOR BULK COAL HAULAGE
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THIS week I propose to deal with the haulage of coal
for industrial use. I am considering it insofar as it applies to the conveyance of coal from pitheads or opencast mines to factories and other establishments which buy it in bulk.
The first matter to which consideration must be given before discussing costs and rates is the type and size of vehicle. Tipping vehicles are generally used, but there is a point which is not generally appreciated as regards size. For economical loading and transport most operators would prefer to use 12-tonners. With a vehicle of this size, the rate per ton can be kept to an extremely low limit, as is shown by the figures which accompany this article.
Only a minority of the factories to which coal is delivered in the industrial North can accept loads of that weight. It is not so much that the majority is not willing to take 12 tons at one time; it is just that the facilities for unloading a vehicle of that size do not exist. It is partly for that reason that the 5-ton tipper is the most popular, but there are many cases in which even that vehicle is too large.
Estimating Terminal Delays
Next. consideration must be given to the methods of loading and unloading, so that a proper period can be allocated for terminal delays. Generally, coal is hopperloaded into the vehicle and the actual operation of loading takes only a few minutes. 1 here are, however. occasions when vehicles have to wait for their loads, and delays may involve waiting as much as an hour or longer. On the whole, it will he reasonable to take an average period of hour at the loading end.
At the unloading end, difficulties of a different nature arise, largely because of the inaccessibility of the hole in the ground into which the coal is to be tipped. 1 remember, in one case in particular, watching a 5-tonner matutuvre in a narrow roadway, somewhat steeply inclined. It had been found that if the coal were tipped as it would normally be, with the vehicle at right-angles to the direction of the road, the stress on the tipping gear of the vehicle, caused by the steep incline of the roadway, was such as to bring about frequent breakdowns. In order to ease this stress it had become the custom to manceuvre the vehicle so that the reat of the lorry was higher than the front, and tip from that direction. In that way not only was extra time needed to get into the precise position for tipping, but the actual operation of tipping took longer because it was taking place, as it were, up hill.
The first step in planning a schedule of rates for any commodity is to arrive at some basic time and mileage figures for the types of vehicle in use. I have done this for 3-ton and 5-ton petrol-engined tippers and for a 12-ton oil-engined tipper, following again the practice which I have adhered to for some time-that is, setting out the figures according to the formula used by the Road Haulage Association.
The data are given in Table I and the figures should, I imagine, need little explanation beyond the following brief notes:
Depreciation is calculated on the net figure reached after deducting from the initial cost of the vehicle the price of a set of tyres and then an allowance for the residual value. which is the amount which might reasonably be expected to be obtained for the vehicle at the end of its period of use. In this way, I get the three amounts, £540 for a 3-tonner, £600 for the 5-tonner and £1,890 for the 12-tonner.
I have depreciated each of the two smaller vehicles over four years. The 12-tonner may be expected to last eight years. Dividing the amounts by four, four and eight respectively, produces the annual depreciation figures of
£135 for the 3-tanner, £150 for the 5-tonner and £240 for the 12-tonner.
The net result is to obtain figures for cost of 6s. 8d. per hour and 3.71d. per mile for the 3-tonner; 7s. 10d. per hour and 4.42d. per mile for the 5-tonner: and 12s. 2d. per hour and 5.87d. per mile for the oil-engined 12-tonner.
The next consideration is the time taken per journey for different lengths of haul. Again I have followed the method previously described, but as there is a difference this week, inasmuch as the figures for the 12-tonner differ from those of the smaller machines, I had, perhaps, better go quickly over the figures again, so that there shall be no misunderstanding.
In the case of the 3-tonners and 5-tonners it is assumed
that the first and last A mile of each journey are accomplished at a speed of 6 m.p.h., so that each A mile takes 5 mins., and the total for a 1-mile lead is 10 mins. in each direction.
To those readers who might suggest that that speed is slow, I would point out that it provides for driving away from the pit or opencast mine at the one end and away
from a narrow congested street. at the other, making allowance for traffic hold-ups. That means that for a 1-mile lead the total time is 1 hr. 20 mins., being 1 hr. for terminals and 20 mins, for travelling.
The second mile in each direction is assumed to be travelled at 15 m.p.h., so that each mile takes 2 mins.
and the mile 4 mins. The total time for the one-way run of 2 miles is thus 14 mins., and for the double journey, 28 mins., and the grand total for a 2-mile lead. is 1 hr. 28 mins.
Similarly, the third -1,mile is assumed to betravelled at 24 m.p.h., which is 11 mins, per mile, or 24. mins. per mile; thus for the 3-mile journey the total time is 1 hr. 33 mins. Beyond that it is assumed that the vehicle travels at the legal limit of 30 m.p.h., which means 2 mins, per mile in each direction and adds 4 mins. to the total time.
The travelling times, according to the above calculations. are set out for the 3-tonner in Table II and for the 5-tomier in Table III. In the matter of time, these two vehicles are assumed to be alike.
Before dealing with the building up of these various tables, we must derive from our figures of cost per hour and per mile corresponding information as to charges, and that I do by adding 20 per cent., giving 8s. per hour and 40. per mile for the 3-tanner; 9s fid. per hour and 51-d. per mile for the 5-tanner; and 14s. 8d. per hour and 7di per mile for the 12-tonner.
How Tables are Compiled
The composition of Tables 1 and II can briefly be described as follows, taking Table II as an example:—In the first column is the distance the coal is hauled, from 1 to 6 miles. In the second is entered the time charge for the terminal period of 1 hr. (in this case 8s.). In the third column there is the travelling time, as calculated above (20 minutes for the 1-mile lead, 28 for the 2-mile lead, 33 for the 3-mile lead, increasing at the rate of 4 mins, per mile thereafter). In the fourth column is the charge' for the travelling time at 8s. per hour. In the fifth column is set down the actual distance travelled, which is, of course, twice the lead mileage, and in the sixth column the charge for that mileage at 40. per mile.
The seventh column is the sum of Column.. 4, the charge for time, and Column 6, the charge for mileage (that is, for travelling only). There is still to be added the fl% for the 1-hr. terminal delay, which gives us the grand total
in Column 8. In Column 8, therefore, we have the total charge for the lorry, and that has to be divided by the number of tons carried to produce the rate per ton, which, is given in the last column.
For leads in excess of 6 miles we have to reckon on a charge for 4 mins. at 8s. per hour, which is approximately 60., plus 2 miles at 40. (9d.); total, is. 30. for 3 tons— say, 5d. per ton per mile lead.
Extra Charge for Manhandling The figures in the tables are quoted on the understanding that the vehicles are hopper-loaded. Sometimes this is not done, and the coal is manhandled, although, as a rule, there is assistance given for loading in such cases. Hauliers are,a little scornful of the effectiveness of that aid, but, even so, an extra charge of ls, per ton is justified under those conditions.
The only difference which Geed be noted as regards the 12-tonner is in respect of travelling time. The average speeds over the first and second miles at each end may be taken to be the same as for the lighter vehicles (6 m.p.h. and 15 m.p.h. respectively), taking 10 mins. per mile and 4 rnins per mile respectively, but, of course, the heavy vehicle may not legally travel at 24 m.p.h., so that for the third mile and beyond, the speed must be assumed to be at the rate of 20 m.p.h., or 3 mins. per mile. Allowance is made for that contingency in Table IV. S.T.R.