Dickery Docks
Page 58
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WHY hauliers rather than the many other interests perturbed at delays at docks should take the lead in calling a conference may seem to require some explanation. In the present confused situation everybody suffers to some extent, but the haulier is probably Atte worst hit of all. He is taking the main stress caused by the lack of facilities to deal with an increasing volume of goods. While his vehicles are, in effect, being used as mobile warehouses, they are not available for carrying other goods, and his business languishes. .
His charge for demurrage, if it is to be reasonable, must include not only the standing costs, including the wages of the driver, but some compensation for lost revenue. The reasonable 'customer will pay, although not always graciously; but the tough customer may refuse, or threaten to take his traffic elsewhere. Thus the deplorable relations between dock workers and road transport drivers spread their infection in a widening circle.
Responsibility Widespread
Responsibility for the present position cannot be laid at any one door. The hauliers have their share. Many of them, send vehicles to the docks only partly loaded. According to one estimate, 70 per cent. of vehicles going into London docks carry no more than 30 cwt. each. A scheme now under discussion would enable hauliers running a regular dock service to carry bulk loads. This would reduce the number of vehicles needed, and help to ease congestion.
The authorities come under fire because they provide neither enough docks nor proper facilities. Time is needed for the construction of new docks, and the .complications are, as always, formidable. The Port of London Authority, for example, are interested in building another large dock to the north of the Royal group. This is no more than the revival of a plan put up over 30 years ago, and the results are still awaited of a public inquiry that began in 1953. The Authority own the land, but the borough of West Ham want the site for other purposes.
Meanwhile, the port of Milford Haven is using large advertising spaces in the Press to proclaim its willingness to take on all comers. The port is independent; it has a fine natural harbour, and a development programme under way; but the point that seems to differentiate Milford Haven from many other ports, according to its own account, is that in its whole history there has never been a strike or dislocation of work. The main difficulty for the road operator would probably be that of getting there. Road communications into South Wales have been one of the main targets for the organizations now pressing the Government hard for more expenditure on a better road system.
Shipowners have come under fire, particularly from hauliers. In the last resort, the rhythm of loading and unloading is set by the ship, and if all other considerations . but that of the ship are disregarded the other parties concerned may find difficulty in co-ordinating their own movements so that the operation is spread smoothly over the time available, instead of concentrated into one or two yeak periods.
At the other end of the conveyor belt, the shippers are not always as helpful as they could be. A report from a sub-committee appointed by the council of the London Chamber of Commerce to inquire into delays at the London docks censures those merchants who "not uncommonly" send their goods to the docks during the last day or two before a ship sails. The assumption that late goods will receive priority over those sent down during the first days of the vessel's opening has been several times described as an illusion, but it is one that persists in the minds of many traders
In the opinion of the sub-committee, the main cause of difficulties in London is the indiscipline and lack of responsibility of sections of dock workers, aggravated by a shortage of adequate labour. Undoubtedly, the crux of the matter is here. Few people would dispute the need for the court of inquiry into the docks industry that are due to sit early next month.
The scheme for giving permanent employment to dock workers, or rather for giving them a guaranteed minimum wage whether there is work for them or not, was splendid in conception, but the National Dock Labour Board have not had a smooth passage, and the effects of the recent paralysing strike are still apparent in the present economic difficulties and even in the present congestion at the docks While the court of inquiry are proceeding, the Dock Labour Board may not have a good deal to contribute to the conference of interested organizations convened by the Road Haulage Association. There are any number of inanimate problems into which the conference can get their teeth. The legacy from the past shows itself in two ways. The docks were designed to take a far smaller volume of traffic than now passes through them; and they were designed at a time when the railways were still the dominant transport medium.
16m. Tons from Manchester In Manchester's docks over 16m. tons of traffic were handled during 1954, compared with 6irn. tons in the year before the war. Another more familiar statistic is that in 1952 three times the tonnage of goods were carried by road as by rail. At many docks the storage .space, and the facilities for loading and unloading, have hardly changed. Railway lines run along the entire length of many dock sheds, so that road vehicles can get no .farther than one end or the other.
At Manchester and Avonmouth, sunken roadways run
into the sheds. An alternative suggestion is to build ramps so that vehicles can unload on the shed roofs. Existing roadways within the docks can often be widened, and railway lines can be laid level with the surface of the road, so that lorries can cross them without difficulty.
At least the conference on dock delays should find no lack of subjects to discuss, and nearly all the subjects. will be found relevant. There will be no point in suggesting that labour, or accommodation, or equipment is the only problem, or, for example, as somebody said recently, that there would be no trouble if the port authorities kept rigidly, to their permit system. There can be no single solution, and the conference should not hesitate to cover as much ground as possible.