HAULAGE CONTRACTING AT LIVERPOOL.
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Transport Activities of a Company who Represent an Amalgamation of Interests, and who Undertake Meat Haulage on a Large Scale.
)111-1E work of the motor haulage con tractor in any of the great terminal ports is sufficiently diverse and peculiar as to create a set of conditions entirely different from those encountered by users who operate fleets of motor vehicles specially for the purpose Of distributing a proprietary article. In one case the user runs a fleet specifically as a business enterprise ; he sells transport. In the other the cost of goods delivery is borne by the article, and is thus passed on to the public, who, of course, unthinkingly foot the bill.
Now' the Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd., of Liverpool, although not the largest motor haulage contractors of that city, may claim, with their stable of nearly 300 horses, to be one of the largest cartage contractors on the Merseyside. The present company, who represent an amalgamation of several other concerns, have ramifications dating back for more than half a century. The Jarvis; Robinson Transport, Ltd.' were incorporated in 1920. when John Jarvis and Sons (1875), Ltd., coalesced. Associated with this company and worked by the same executive are the motor fleet and large stock of horses owned by Binnie and Co., Ltd. (1872). These three companies have absorbed about 25 other transport undertakings. Their fleet includes in the steamer section 20 units (Leylands, Sentinels and Fodens), and petrol vehicles are represented by Leylands; Malays, Albinos, Austin, Vulcans and Fords. In addi
tion there is a Burrell steam traction engine, which is capable of dealing with foods up to 60 tons. A great number of insulated vans, built specially for fresh, chilled and frozen-meat traffic, is in daily . service, and as some of the newer models represent a distinct improvement in design on those generally employed, further reference to their construction and points of advantage is merited.
The Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd., have been large transport contractors to the meat trade for many years. When they first specialized in meat traffic the work was entirely local, being between the docks, the cold stores, the railway stations, abattoirs, etc.; but when increasing quantities of meat began to arrive from abroad they developed into long-distance haulage contractors. As is well known, the transpost of meat from the steamer in dock to the local railway stations, but more especially to Midland destinations, involves the use of trailers in considerable numbers and also insulated lift-van bodies, which, according to the exigencies of the moment, can be transferred from one vehicle to another.
The Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd., have recently been applying considerable attention to the design of a more suitable type of insulated van. Not being satisfied that the old type of wood-lined van body was the best thing obtainable under modern conditions, their managing director, Mr. Arthur Smith, collaborated with an insulation expert, with the result that a body possessing outstanding technical advantages has been brought within the range of commercial possibility. With insulated van bodies used on rod vehicles a great deal more vibration has to be guarded against than in the case of a lift-van body carried on a railway truck, and great attention must necessarily be given to rigidity of construction.
A common fault with insulated• van bodies for meat, which .should conform to a high hygienic standard, is that, hitherto, it. has not been possible completely to eliminate corners and crevices in which foreign matter might lodge. Bodies which have the insulation enclosed in tongued and grooved boards are difficult to keep clean, and the interior linings have to be renewed frequently or the vans would soon become unfit for carrying foodstuffs. The improved van body has no joints in either the ceiling or the sides, and there is a complete absence of sharp angles. All the woodwork is covered with a jointless waterproof facing, which preserves the efficiency of the insulation and enables the interior to be regu, larlv sluiced out. By dispensing with timber in the structure accumulation of moisture is also obviated ; with the oldtype bodies it was found that the wood invariably absorbed moisture, which was eventually sweated out again. The lorries and trailers of the Jarvi,s, Robinson Transport, Ltd., can be seen almost every day loaded to capacity with meat leaving Liverpool for places so far distant as Birmingham, Newcastle, Hartlepool, MiddIesiorough, etc. In casee of emergency journeys to these centres have been undertaken at very short notice. When vessels are discharg
ing cargoes of meat at Liverpool, certain consignments are loaded direct into the motorvans, which afterwards start off for their -distant destinations without any delay.
On days when there are no meat ships in port similar loads of meat are taken from the various Liverpool cold stores and transported inland. The local journeys, of under three miles' length or so, are undertaken by means of horse lorries, which convey loads between the steamer and the cold stores and the railway goods stations.
The haulage contractors are usually advised by the meat-importing firms when a vessel carrying meat is due to dock, and they. are expected to send down. vehicles to be in readiness when the work of discharging the cargo actually commences. Sometimes a steamer misses the tide and does not unship the _ cargo until .bours after the scheduled time, in which event the motor vehicles have simply, to stand by. There have been occasions when it has been necessary to employ as many as forty vehicles in connection with the cargo of one vessel. At such times, when other current work also demands atten tion, it sometimes becomes necessary to hire other vehicle& The actual loading of the motors is performed by the men employed by Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd.
At the present time Manchester is the shortest regular journey undertaken be the vehicles engaged in meat traffic aria Coventry the longest. The journeys usually commence in the very early hours of the morning, soon after mid night, in order that fresh supplies of meat may be in the shops early in the day. Very often 15 or 20 vehicles are employed on all-night running, conveying four outward loads per week, on the Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Return loads are rarely possible of acceptance, as so few can be conveniently carried in the insulated vans. In addition to meat, all kinds of other traffic is handled by the Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd., including cotton, wool, machinery, iron, timber, foodstuffs and provisions. No regular daily services are, maintained b to busy traffic junctions, but vehicles make journeys as often as the exigencies of traffic warrant them. One of the busiest traffic routes is, of course, to Manchester, where the company have office and garage accommodation. At least 2,000 tons of goods are transported every day by the vehicles in the rvice of the Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd.
One of the difficulties which confronts all haulage contractors is that of anticipating the demands likely to be made upon their resources. Usually the last job in the office is to arrange for the commissioning of vehicles for the following day. Sometimes, when a big shipment of goods is unloaded late in the day, and is required to be despatched inland without any delay, it involves the complete revision of drivers' way-bills. On the journeys to the cotton and woolmanufacturing districts, for which open lorries are employed, it is usually possible to pick up return loads. The Burrell tractor owned by the compally is employed on special and, more or less, irregular work. It has been, and is, used mainly for the removal of heavy castings and boilers for barges from engineering works to the docks. During the war it made many long journeys, especially in bringing sternposts to the shipyards at Birkenhead from Newcastleon-Tyne. When used for boiler transport a specially constructed cradle is fitted to the trailer, and when big mileages have to be traversed a living van is also attached to the tractor.
To facilitate the work of controlling traffic the Jarvis, Robinson Transport, Ltd., have a series of dock offices on both sides of the River Mersey, all of them being in direct telephonic communication with the central office.