Econofreight: Third Adjournment
Page 62
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THE hard-fought application by Econofreight Transport, Ltd., Stockton-on-Tees, for a licence for an ektra bulk cement vehicle of 94tons payload capacity was resumed in Newcastle upon Tyne last Friday, and after being adjourned since last May, was again postponed until next Monday. Thirty-one hauliers and British Railways objected.
After Mr. C. Coates, transport manager of Econofreight, had been unable to answer a number of questions put to him, the hearing was adjourned to enable him to produce the information.
He said that last February the company were granted an A licence for two cement tankers. All the traffic carried had been from Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., at Billingharn-on-Tees. The demand for this kind of transport was expected to increase.
No representative of I.C.I.. was p resew.
In cross-examination, Mr. Coates said that the area of operation was in Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, 1-le could not give a detailed analysis of the work done since February, apart• from the figures of earnings which had been produced. He could detail the names of only some of the contractors to whom Econofreight had carried, but did not know the locations of the sites or the quantities carried. He left these matters to his traffic clerk.
A representative of George Wimpey and Co., Ltd., declared that his company had several large projects in prospect. One .in County Durham would last at least two to three years, and a storage silo, which would necessitate the use of a bulk cement vehicle, was to be erected on the site.
A director of Purdie Lumsden and Co., Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne, said his company required cement for a new reservoir under construction at Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough. They had no other projects in view which required bulk haulage.
A representative of F. Shepherd and Sons, Ltd., York, stated that his concern had several contracts in view on Tees-side and were contemplating the bulk storage of cement.