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Home thoughts from abroad
HAULIERS have almost run out of breath in their complaints that the image of their industry has been undeservedly sullied and that somebody ought to do something to clean it up. They may well be struck temporarily speechless to find at last official support for their claim, although from an unexpected quarter and not in the way they imagine, The Economic Development Committee for the Movement of Exports has covered a considerable amount of ground in less than four years. An'early achievement was the report published in June 1966 as Through Transport to Europe. It contained a number of recommendations and a progress report was issued last March. While all this was happening the Metra consulting group was carrying out on behalf of the EDC a study to discover among other things "the attitudes on our export delivery system commonly held by Continental importers".
What has emerged is that the attitude is not particularly favourable in spite of a "considerable goodwill towards Britain". According to the latest EDC report based on the Metra study and entitled Delivering the Goods "the UK has the reputation of having a long total delivery time compared with other European countries",
Delivery time
Transport delivery time has as precise a meaning to the EDC as it no doubt has to the midwife. It is defined as "the time interval between the receipt of an order by an exporter and the arrival of the goods at the importer's premises". It can be split into two parts: order-to-dispatch time and transport time. The dividing time is the moment when the goods leave the exporter's premises.
Operators who have suffered from terminal delays may care to note the exact wording. There is no reference to the long interval which sometimes elapses after the vehicle arrives to collect the goods. This would presumably be included in order-todispatch time. It might have been useful if the EDC had dealt with the point in its recommendations.
Many of these are of direct interest to operators. The need is expressed for "public relations work by exporters and transport operators". Exporters are recommended to make full use of TIR facilities to speed up delivery. British transport which "compares well with competing Continental systems" must improve continually to keep pace with technological developments.
Hauliers may be surprised to learn that their image needs as much attention abroad as at home. In the suggested public relations campaign the exporter is regarded as the main character. He must do his best, says the report somewhat picturesquely, "to steep himself in the ways of his foreign customers and to make sure that they appreciate that he is doing so". Success stories ought to be made public as a corrective to stories of failure and delay which all too often receive excessive publicity.
The aim must be, says the report, to present a fair and factual account which neither raises expectations beyond achieve ment nor "belittles what we believe to be a basically efficient system". It is emphasized that to achieve this the co-operation of all types of carrier and of the port authorities is necessary. Successful case histories of deliveries by exporters and forwarding agents are also required.
Road operators may feel that they are the particular targets of the appeal. The ports, the railways and certainly the principal exporters undertake publicity on a large scale both at home and abroad. For the most part they already do what the EDC is suggesting even if in some cases apparently they are not as successful as the EDC would like.
Hauliers have not done nearly as much in this direction and have scarcely even begun to consider what trade and industry on the Continent think of them. They may have supposed that the effect of an attempt at publicity would not have justified the effort involved. With the new encouragement from the EDC a fresh look at the subject is certainly warranted.
This applies especially to operators who use roll-on roll-off services to send their own vehicles and drivers through to the destination. The tendency is towards an increase in this type of operation. It reverses the trend a few years ago when hauliers were more inclined to send unaccompanied trailers to be picked up by a foreign tractive unit.
Interesting story
The British lorry taking an unusual or difficult consignment to a Continental country should provide an interesting story for the local papers at each end of the route and even for the press of intervening countries. But the EDC recommendation can be adopted on a much wider scale than that. Every operator carrying export traffic should consider whether some of his consignments have aspects which, although to him may seem commonplace, would be of considerable interest to the general public. He would feel the benefit of any immediate publicity and there would be a general advantage to the industry as a whole.
There is no reason why the haulier should take the blame for delays which are the fault of the exporter. The EDC notes the "impression" on the Continent that the average British order-to-transport time is longer than in other European countries. There appears to be some evidence to support this.
The haulier can be directly responsible only for the time taken by his vehicle and this is a small part of the total period involved. Statistics used in the EDC report show that on average the total time from receipt of an order to delivery is 60 days of which only 10 days are taken up in the transport operation. The report adds that the average transport time is further reduced to four days when roll-on roll-off services are used.
Isolated Britain
In spite of the statistics it is transport time which seems to make the most impression at the receiving end. The Metra study puts it in this way: "An importer's perception of distance is closely associated with his perception and experience of transport time." As a consequence importers who regard British exports as having the longest transport time will tend to think of Britain as isolated from the rest of Europe. Only too often, says the EDC, "the UK is regarded as a faraway land where it is difficult to establish regular personal contact with British exporters".
The Metra study reaches this conclusion: "Britain's isolation can be lessened by a perceived reduction in transport time. Improvements of the transport system, coupled with the elimination of formalities as far as possible, could be one of the focal points of a new trading image for British exports."
This ought to mean that, apart from the possible benefit through reduced transport charges, trade and industry could increase their attraction to foreign importers by doing everything possible to reduce transport time and to draw attention to the ease and skill with which British operators cross land and sea barriers.
In this context turnround delays are not merely a burden on the operator and a possible reason for demurrage charges levied on the customer. They also play a part in making him appear remote and inefficient to his own customers abroad.
The exporter should consider co-operating closely with hauliers in the publicity envisaged by the EDC. The storks which are required concern the transport of the merchandise rather than the merchandise itself. Operators should not hesitate to bring the subject of publicity to the attention of their customers whenever an unusual or an unusually difficult load is offered. The customer is often more likely than the haulier to have facilities for obtaining the best results.
The report is quietly, and incidentally, a strong argument for the use of ferries. When transport time looms so large in the mind of the consignee in Europe the reduction by an average of six days made possible by roll-on roll-off services is bound to be an important factor. Another EDC recommendation that exporters should make full use of TIR facilities may be read in conjunction with reports from both the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association of substantial increases in the number of TIR carnets issued over the past year.