Iaulage Link-up By ASHLEY TAYLOR, ASSOC.Inst.T.
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ere two T.D.G. units share a big site
The Bishop's Wharf and Isherwood fleet of 34 vehicles is divided equally between two depots, one at Warrington and the other at Great Howard Street, Liverpool, the 12-ton Bedford-Scammell being the standard unit employed. The Warrington manager, Mr. D. Edwards, is responsible for traffic and warehousing there, whilst Mr. A. W. Childs at Liverpool deals with the balance of the road transport fleet, also with lighterage and with the extensive Dublin ferry traffic. The river fleet, which covers the Mersey, the Weaver, and the Manchester Ship Canal between Warrington, Liverpool, Northwich, Ellesmere Port and Manchester, has a total carrying capacity of 2,300 tons. The vessels include two new powered lighters, the "Julia Pat" and the "Marion Tatterson ", both built in the yards of an associated company in London, and 10 steel barges.
Commodities arriving by lighter at Bishop's Wharf, Warrington, are lifted by crane, being conveyed by road transport to the warehouses where they are off-loaded by fork-lift units or cranes, or possibly delivered direct to other destinations. Wood pulp, coffee beans and cocoa beans are among the principal commodities regularly handled and stored in the warehouses. The coffee comes largely from Uganda and Brazil, a typical shipment being of the order of 300 tons. Commodities being handled by water are loaded overside from the ships into barges, passing by way of the wharf to the storage accommodation.
Mechanical Handling
Extensive single-storey warehouses are available and, in accordance with company policy, a number of older storage buildings are being replaced. Handling equipment includes overhead and mobile cranes, 4,000-lb. and 6,000-1b. Conveyancer fork-lift trucks, also multi-level portable elevators. Warehouse capacity exceeds 20,000 tons. Enormous quantities of pallet-loaded tinned goods are handled, the most notable commodity in this class perhaps being condensed milk which is received ex steamer at Weston Point Docks. Cases are placed on pallets in the holds, loaded on the company's articulated outfits and offloaded by fork-lift units at the Warrington end. Mr. Muskett says that two fork-lifts and their operators can deal with 250 tons daily, a quantity which 10 years ago would have necessitated the employment of a gang of 12.
The road transport fleet is concentrated largely on Merseyside dock deliveries and collections. A new feature that has enjoyed notable success is the Dublin ferry facility which provides a direct link between traders in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Consignments are loaded on to 12-ton Lancashire flats which are lifted from the vehicle and placed in the steamer's hold in one operation. This is a rapidly growing traffic. Whereas nine loads were handled in January, 1963, soon after the establishment of the ferry, the total in July that year was 54 and the graph continues upwards.
The rapid advance in handling methods during recent years is specially exemplified by the wire trade. For a long period the company has provided a comprehensive service for Rylands Bros. Ltd., of Warrington, in addition to normal haulage dealing with that manufacturer's entire export traffic through the Merseyside docks and storing large quantities of wire products in the warehouses. At one time the man-handling of reels of barbed and standard wire was heavy work which necessitated a good deal of skill but now both bagged nails and wire are placed on pallets and internal movement performed with ease by the fork-lift trucks. A visit to the Bishop's Wharf company's warehouses showed them to be all but full and Mr. Muskett told me that the signs and portents suggest that expansion may be expected in every department. An important feature of the company's Merseyside location is the ease with which imported commodities can be placed in storage.
Water transport can assist in speeding ship turn-round. Dockside discharge may be in full progress but a barge or lighter can still be loaded on the other side of the steamer. Working together a powered lighter and dumb barge, will move a 400-ton shipment at one time. Mr. Muskett is certain that with proper organization there will be considerable scope for local water transport in the years to come,
The activities of John Buckley and Co. Ltd., which shares the Warrington site with the Bishop's Wharf organization, were reviewed in some detail in The Commercial Motor
five years ago. In the earliest days John Buckley had a variety of interests, but it is on record that motor transport was operated shortly after the First World War. The Buckley function in the present era is to provide a substantial proportion of long-distance trunk transport and 28 vehicles out of the total fleet of 63 are employed on this class of work.
Tanker Variations When I went out to see something of the tasks undertaken the heavier duties were being fulfilled mainly by Atkinson-and Fodens, but a prominent part was also being played by Bedford TK articulated outfits. All the semitrailers were of the B.T.C. Four-in-Line design. Operating on oil and chemical distribution are 15 maximum-capacity tankers and I observed that in some cases independent tanker motors are fitted so that when detached from the tractor unit the tanks can be pumped out under their own power. In addition to the conventional tankers Buckley employs one Portolite collapsible tank which is regularly worked up to Scotland on a vehicle loaded with palleted goods and brings back liquid tallow.
Members of the industry generally are agreed that there is an upward swing in the demand for bulk liquid transportation in the north-west and there seems every reason to believe that this section of the fleet will be maintained on intensive operation. Every endeavour is made to ensure the maximum degree of loaded running and two vehicles which transport palleted goods outwards are converted into giant tippers for the carriage of sand on the return journey.
From many angles Warrington is an excellent natural shunting point. A feeder fleet of eight units based there gives a daily general haulage service for smaller deliveries within 50 miles of base and in particular to the Liverpool and Manchester docks.
Buckley's London depot is equipped with a feeder fleet for smalls distribution in the surrounding area. An overnight trunk route from Warrington carries traffic for London and the Home Counties and others operate to Middlesbrough and the north-east coast and into Scotland. North-eastern traffic is taken over by R. Rankin and Sons Ltd., of Middlesbrough and Newcastle upon Tyne, whilst final distribution of Scottish consignments is routed through the Glasgow depot of Highland Haulage Ltd.
The Buckley organization has a small office and terminal which is responsible for docks collection at Liverpool, a substantial proportion of the business handled there being imported groceries and provisions destined for wholsalers in the north-east.
In brief, the fleet's speCiality is shipping traffic ex Thames
and Merseyside docks, and distribution in the north for southern manufacturers and vice versa. Considerable quantities of steel wire and associated products are carried southwards. The traffic north includes very substantial quantities of motorcycles which in some instances are distributed direct to dealers. In other cases they are held on store and sorted ia readiness for distribution to the customers' instructions in North Wales, northern England and Scotland. Newsprint in reels also forms an important part of the regular loads. In recent times the general trend has been for the bulk of the traffic to comprise more numerous consignments emanating from a larger number of customers rather than the lesser number of bulk loads which at one period made up much of the turnover.
Separate fitting and maintenance shops are operated at Warrington by the two companies.