Fuel price up? Then go for a rates increase says John Wells
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A RECOMMENDATION that hauliers whose fuel price had risen through sanctioned increases and the withdrawal of bulk rebates should immediately seek "to recover their ascertainable and allowable cost increases" was made by the RHA national chairman, Mr John Wells, when he spoke at the opening of the annual conference on Tuesday.
The RHA chairman also told delegates he thought it unlikely that haulage nationalization threats would ever be implemented, and said he was more worried at the use of emotive language about the heavy lorry to win votes.
Mr Wells said he was sure that members would not wish him to miss the opportunity of commenting on at least one other recent conference, held by one of the political parties.
He went on: "As a kind of irresponsible descant over the past few weeks we have had the bizarre activities of Peter Hain's disciples. If he did not exist, it would have been necessary for somebody like Sapper — or perhaps more appropriately P. G. Wodehouse — to invent him. Mr Hain is the eternal undergraduate, of a somewhat old-fashioned vintage, always ready for a jape or a rag, and still taking himself extremely seriously.
Outdated lorry-bashers
"What makes the lorry-bashers even more of an anachronism is their failure to appreciate the significance of Living with the Lorry by Dr Clifford Sharp of the University of Leicester, who will be taking part in this conference at a later stage.
"The conclusion to be drawn from his research is in no way obscure. The lorry is an essential part of our present civilization.
"Let me sum it up in a brief quotation: 'Whatever is done over the next two decades to improve our railways, roads will continue to have a dominant role in the movement of passengers and goods'.
"These words are not mine, nor are they Dr Sharp's. They are taken from the White Paper on Transport Policy issued by Mrs Barbara Castle in July 1966. She went on in very much the same strain: 'Good roads are vital to efficient working of industry, the movement of exports and the quality of life in our towns. The importance which the Government attaches to the road programme is shown by the resources it is devoting to it'.
"Although we did not subscribe to every item in Mrs Castle's policy, we might be forgiven for reading into the words quoted an acknowledgement by the Labour Party of the crucial role which road transport in general and our members in particular play in the economy, and of the need for providing the means to continue playing that role. Delegates at the Labour Party conference the week before last would not have agreed. Nor, apparently, had they read their copy of Living with the Lorry or at any rate understood it.
Beware!
"Instead we had the remarkable proposition that all road haulage firms operating five or more vehicles should be nationalized. Is this supposed to be a tribute or a snub to the so called 'little man' who alone would be left with his freedom? The mind boggles that any .government, once it has the responsibility of power, would be foolish or irresponsible enough to put such a resolution into effect. But beware! Stranger things have happened.
"The leader of the party, Mr Harold Wilson, on the following day spoke of taking ' over 'identifiable sections or individual firms' in the pharmaceutical, machine tool, construction and road haulage industries. As far as road haulage was concerned, he gave no coherent or sensible reasons, perhaps because he could not find them. He contented himself with a reference to the need to redress the balance of transport between road and rail, with a further comment which, while it does not actually mean anything, has already found its way into the golden treasury of political quotations. 'If we do not control the juggernauts, and those who own them', he said, 'they will control us'.
"His words are calculated to strike an emotional chord in a variety of people, not merely in his own party. It is this reaction, as well as the threat of nationalization, that is worrying. We already operate under more controls and legislation than any other industry. I have a distinct impression that nobody wants us. Unfortunately for all, 20th century Britain cannot function without us.
"The GLC has already given us a painful lesson in competitive politics. One of the first acts 'Of the newly elected council was to clap restrictions on lorries of more than a certain size and at the same time abandon plans for the improved routes which would make the ban easier or even possible.
"Clearly the GLC believes that its promise, in one case to do and in the other not to do, these things was one of the main reasons why Londoners voted to put the Labour Party in power. If this sort of gimmicky vote-catching is to be reproduced on the national scale we are in for a gloomy year or 18 months.
Let Industry speak up "What is badly needed is a loud and clear declaration by the people most concerned of the message already given in Living with the Lorry. To start with, we have the whole of trade and industry, including exporters and importers, who are going to find themselves increasingly hamstrung by the growing number of restrictions on the movement of goods.
"In a cynical mood hauliers would shrug their shoulders at these restrictions. The customers must have their traffic delivered. If this means doubling the cost of transport, they will have to pay.
"This will apply equally to the vehicles run by the customers themselves. Moreover, if at some future time nationalization becomes a serious issue, the own-account operator will not be spared. Veterans in the Labour Party still carry the scars acquired from the catastrophic collapse of their original nationalization scheme 25 or 30 years ago. Many of them, seeking a scapegoat, blame the C-licence holder. After a good deal of hesitation, they very sportingly left him outside their scheme of State control, whereupon the ungrateful fellow proceeded to opt out completely, to vote with his wheels, and to put thousands of his own vehicles on the roads.
"A party bent on nationalization will not make the same mistake twice.
"Whatever rude things are said about our lorries, nobody can seriously claim that we do not provide an economic service with a high level of productivity. Of course we are in the same boat as everybody else in that our costs continually increase.
"A case in point is the present situation on the price of fuel. There have been recent sanctioned increases in prices but in addition volume rebates have in many cases been withdrawn. The result in total is that the cost of dery has risen by up to 6p per gallon. This inevitably increased the costs of haulage services. I advise affected members to seek immediately to recover their ascertainable and allowable cost increases.
'Freightways" for lorries?
"We must not delude ourselves that because we are essential we will continue to use every road in the country with impunity. We shall have, sooner or later, some measure of route designation. The cost and disruption of this to us and our customers can be mitigated, if we are prepared to sit down with the planners, identify the routes, in town and countryside, persuade others to support us in our pressure for new roads or improvements where necessary, and thus take part in designing the Freightways — I use that word deliberately — which we and this country so desperately need. If we can succeed in doing this, then I believe we have the right to ask that these Freightways are used by the heavier European vehicles of the 1980s."
Transport needs career structure
THE THEME of the first session "Tomorrow's men" was that transport must become a career industry. Mr Peter Haxby, director of training, RTITB, opened on a cautionary note when he warned the delegates that the present acute manpower shortage would be greater when the EEC driving hours regulations came into force in 1976. Mr Haxby attributed the present shortage to the poaching activities of own-account operators. He said they required 50,000 drivers but provided training places for only 15,000.
This was a point taken up by the two other speakers, hfr A. Kitson, executive officer, TGWU, member of the Road Haulage Wages Council and the RTITB, and Mr E. B. R. Smith, a director of Reece Bros (Transport) Ltd, from the Eastern area of the RHA.
Mr Haxby said that the industry through its training programme had caused the problem, and while poaching continued quantity would remain a problem.
Critical mood Crucifying hauliers for the weakness of their advertisement presentation when looking for drivers, he said that more attention was given to advertisements for typists than for lorry drivers.
Still in a critical mood, he said that while other industries used drivers they did not contribute to the cost of training, and in this way the road haulage industry was suffering.
Mr Haxby defended the Board's policy of training graduates for management, 200 of whom, he said, had been recruited to the industry in the past three years. "Transport needs these men, and although you have got something to offer you are not doing a very good selling job."
When Mr Kitson spoke he stressed that the opinions he expressed were his own. He felt that there was a vast untapped reservoir of female labour available. "They can solve the manpower problem if given the chance to do so," he said. Mr Kitson feared that the driver shortage would intensify unless something was done soon. He did not foresee any alleviation by transferring traffic from road to rail. "There will be no appreciable switch of traffic in the next 10, 20 or even 30 years," he said.
"Transport must no longer be a transit industry. We must get men and retain them for their working life. Planning is the answer."
Mr Kitson stressed that economic planning and transport planning were closely linked. "But this must be done on a regional rather than a national basis. From economic planning will come transport planning and from that planning you will be better able to appreciate your requirements of yciur industry."
Such planning must be applied to driver apprenticeship, said Mr Kitson. While he agreed that graduates had to be recruited to management, 16-year-old school-leavers should be attracted to driving jobs. "By the time these boys are 21, they would know the industry and be loyal and worthy employees."
High wages themselves were not enough. "How can a man earn £80 a week and work within the law?" he asked. "Drivers must have job satisfaction."
Sleeper cabs
Mr Kitson said that sleeper cabs were for animals and not for drivers. Better overnight accommodation was essential if the industry was to attract the right type of people. "Seventeen foreign drivers were fined last week for excessive hours because they had slept in the cab, and this is not the type of thing that the right kind of employees would want to become involved in."
Mr E. B. R. Smith (Met and SE) agreed with Mr Haxby and Mr Kitson on the career aspect, but he believed that there had to be some type of initiative to keep a driver until retirement age. He suggested that standard wages and conditions as negotiated by employers and trade unions were harmful to good industrial relations. "Why should a man who has just passed his hgv Class I licence enjoy the same salary and conditions as a man who has been driving a maximum-capacity unit for 20 years?" Wage scales should be graduated and a man should be rewarded for spirit, ability and service.
Mr Smith believed that in a careeroriented industry employees should enjoy a good pension scheme, good sickness benefits and improved standards. On this last point, Mr Smith said that customers were lowering the standards of the driver by treating him as a labourer. "They cut down on their own staff and use our drivers to unload or load the vehicles with the minimum of assistance." He also believed that apart from the introduction of a better wage structure and improved conditions men had to be given better facilities in which to work. "Modern wellequipped depots are essential," he said.
K. A. Darvall (Southern) asked Mr Kitson why, in the light of present industrial unrest and trade union irresponsibility, employers should trust the union.
"There are 350,000 shop stewards in Britain," said Mr Kitson, "and only relatively few areas of industrial unrest. If a union does not chose to recognize the Industrial Relations Court," he said, referring to the AUEW, "that is its responsiability, but the decision has to be made by the rank and file, not by Hugh Scanlon or Alex Kitson."
Mrs D. G. Parkin (NW(E)) asked Mr Kitson: "Do you, at the conclusion of a negotiation, say to your members 'go back and do a good day's work'?"
Mr Kitson's reply was heated. "That is your job, madam," he said, "if I was to interfere in the management of a haulage company, then you would complain bitterly and quite rightly. The trade union officer's job is not to discipline your employees, and you need only call on them if they fail to honour agreements, which we have signed on their behalf."
Early retirment Mr D. 0. Good, a former national chairman, from the Devon and Cornwall area, asked the panel if they considered that legislation enforcing early retirement would be desirable. This met with little enthusiasm from the three speakers. Mr Smith said that early retirement might be acceptable on a voluntary basis, but he did not think that the industry was ready for enforced early retirement.
Mr Kitson considered that it would come in the not too distant future. "Possibly, in five years' time," he said. He suggested that in selective industries like coal, steel and road haulage, a retirement age of 60 was desirable, but this, he said, meant providing the retired men with some other activity to keep them alive. But early retirement would, of course, intensify the labour problem and make it even more essential that school-leavers should be recruited to the industry at 16.
Mr Haxby said that while it might be desirable, early retirement essentially had to be on a voluntary basis.
Conserving oil: a moral commitment
HAULIERS have a moral commitment to help conserve supplies of crude oil, Mr A. M. Matthews, of the exploration department of BP, told delegates at the business luncheon on Tuesday.
He said the prospects of the North Sea oilfields were tied to the willingness of the large banks to lend vast sums of money for development and forecast that this development would require a major departure from traditional banking methods.
Mr Matthews said that availability of the oil depended upon the capital required to win it from the sea. He expressed the view that the haulage industry should refrain from expressing extravagant views on future UK oil production. "However," he said, "our oil discoveries in the North Sea are majestic in comparison with those of our EEC partners."
Mr Matthews said that if the haulage industry could help to reduce the consumption of fuel, BP would at the same time help to ensure that the oilfields would make the maximum contribution to the economy of the country.
Even with the new fields going into operation in 1974 and '75 and taking into account anticipated further finds, said Mr Matthews, there had to be a decline in the use of hydrocarbon fuels after 1980. "We are already failing to find enough reserves to ensure supplies after that date," he said. The North Sea fields would not give an unlimited supply of cheap fuel but only a breathing space — "an opportunity to develop alternative forms of fuel whatever they may be".
I ntermodal transport approach needed
WHEN Dr W. I. Skewis, Yorkshire and Humberside Development Association, presented his paper "Regions Rely on Roads" there were those present who may well have been a little disappointed. Dr Skewis began by quoting the adage "good roads act as a catalyst to economic growth". However, the same may have been true of the railways, canals and, even before them, the turnpike roads.
Dr Skewis said the road transport industry had much to gain from joining forces with other transport modes. He wished to see a greater flow of cash made available to the railways in order that they might tackle comprehensive projects and in so doing benefit regional business economy.
His paper certainly gave one operator, Mr. R. Cropper (Met and SE) of Conquers Transport Ltd, the impression that he was in favour of regional diversification and would be prepared to spend money on the under-developed areas at the possible expense of established areas.
In reply to a question from Mr Cropper Dr Skewis said that "investment in central established areas is not necessarily sound economic sense".
Dr Skewis indicated that the title of his paper merely proved that those connected ' with road haulage were brainwashed by their own publicity and were failing to take a balanced view. Regions did not rely on roads, regions relied on communications of which roads were a highly important part as were modern railway facilities, airports, air services and even telephone communications.
Powerful campaign There was no doubt that the road transport industry had conducted a powerful campaign for several years which had brought great national and regional benefits in terms of new roads and motorways. Dr Skewis now thought that it might be time to play things differently. "There is a massive and increasing lack of sympathy for the road lorry and for road users." This might have arisen from lack of information but in public relations it was not so much the truth that mattered but rather what the public believed the truth to be.
For regional and national good the transport lobby should cease to be a modal one and should be aimed instead at transport as a whole. The need for railway investment was plainly obvious and the domestic air service network was also hindered by lack of investment. Dr Skewis said: "There is little in this involvement for the road industry to fear. Research has shown repeatedly that there is little overlap in the freight traffic market for which road and rail are truly competitive. The road industry has much to gain from joining forces with other transport modes." It could take the time to get over the fact that it was not "a monster".
Rail track to road plan well received
Duriag a television interview the same evening when he appeared with Mr John Wells, Dr Skewis said that he thought the road haulage industry was over-reacting to the criticism of the general public.
THE IMAGINATION of delegates was captured on Wednesday morning by Richard Casement of the Economist who proposed in his paper "Transport 2001" that road freight traffic should be provided with an exclusive right of way — "a right of way which would be wider than
80 per cent of the roads of Britain today. A right of way which would be safe because it would not have pedestrians, amateur motorists and cyclists and which would cut industry's costs and costs of public transport by hundreds of millions of pounds a year".
The proposed roads would come from existing railway track, said Mr Casement.
Turning to the question of switching traffic from road to rail, he said that there would be no appreciable switch this century. "In fact," he said, "British Rail is already budgeting for a smaller share of freight by 1981."
Mr Casement acknowledged that the tide of public opinion against road transport' could not be stemmed easily, but in an answer to a question from Mr J. R. Evans (NWCE) he said that the impracticability of switching traffic to rail would in time become apparent to the public and opinion would then begin to change.
Mr F. K. Short (Northern area) asked if Mr Casement could visualize a time when the small fleet operator would disappear. Mr Casement said that he thought this would not happen "because there will always be a demand for the personal service that such an operator offers, and that is another reason why people do not choose to send traffic by rail".
Mr K. Midgley (York WR) suggested that deficiences in road networks might be overcome if bus and coach operators paid a more realistic road tax than their present £22.50. Mr Casement thought that the extra revenue from that source would not provide a significant amount of extra tax.
Noise: where to draw the line
RESTRICTION of vehicles to a maximum vehicle weight could lead to more noise through the use of lighter components in the search for greater payload, Dr Clifford Sharp, author of Living with the Lorry, told Wednesday's "Symposium on noise and the environment".
Basically, said Dr Sharp, the environmental solution could be broken down into the simple equation of cost versus benefit.
Most studies indicated that noise was what most people disliked about heavy lorries. Therefore, some effort should be made to assess noise on its nuisance value. Once this was established we should look carefully at the price we were prepared to pay and where we should draw the line.
However, the lorry was only a part of the picture and the problem of noise and the environment had to be dealt with as a whole. In industry, for example, the recommended maximum noise level for a man or woman working an 8hr day was virtually the same as that of a laden lorry travelling uphill. Yet people were saying that exposure to traffic noise often at lower levels was unacceptable.
The problem could not be solved by legislation: the only significant way to reduce traffic noise was to provide road
systems which separated pedestrians and vehicles.
Better roads, better vehicles, effective enforcement of regulations and possibly • a relocation of industry away from living areas were needed, costing a great deal and towards which the community not just the road haulier had to be prepared to contribute.
Mr M. Lindsay, director of the Scottish Civic Trust, had little faith in the statistics on which Dr Sharp's theories were based; and he described the RHA as just as much a pressure group as the environmentalists and in comparison a minority.
Mr Lindsay said he realized the need for road transport but suggested that more lighter vehicles were preferable to few heavy ones. Lorries should be restricted to a suitable road network, and in the interests of road safety they should be kept to the nearside lane on motorways.
Opening the discussion, the chairman of the RHA, Mr J. P. Wells, said that with RHA members employing about 250,000 workers the RHA could not be described as a minority interest.
Mr J. M. Silberman (Met and SE) said: "We don't make the rules, Parliament does, and hauliers work within the laws. We are not a pressure group trying to influence the Government".
Mr E. B. R. Smith (Eastern) declared that environmentalists were an articulate minority who had captured TV and other media. Was it not possible to hold an inquiry into the costs involved in decreasing the size of vehicles?
Mr Lindsay replied that no favour was shown to the environmentalists by the mass media.
He agreed that an inquiry into the increased costs of using smaller vehicles would be interesting but doubted whether the results could be equated in environmental terms.
THE final session of the conference was devoted to open discussion on subjects of the members' own choice. Once again the public image aspect predominated and members were advised that they must help alter public opinion through customer contact.
A suggestion for legislation to make membership of the RHA compulsory for road hauliers met with a mixed reception. RHA officers described it as horrific but some delegates were more receptive to the suggestion. THERE is an essential need for bigger and better brakes for big artics. But brakes that give efficient operation with a laden vehicle cap create hazards when the vehicle is unladen. The only answer to the problem is the use of anti-locking brakes.
This is the considered opinion of Walter Batstone, deputy chief engineer of the National Freight Corporation. And in ,cooperation with the DoE and TR R L, evaluation of 150 vehicles equipped with anti-lock is a current exercise that will be continued for five years.
Currently, load-sensing valves are specified for the driving axles of tractive units and the axles of the semi-trailers. In due course anti-lock systems applied to all axles will be employed, possibly with British and American electronic in-wheel computerized systems.
American systems In Mr Batstone's view American systems are not so advanced as types developed in this country. but the American system under consideration is produced by a company with subsidiaries in Europe and farther afield which will provide advantages in terms of research facilities, availability and maintenance.
Load-sensing braking equipment has been fitted to NFC artics since 1966, but while they have improved handling and reduced jack-knifing tendencies, they are regarded as a second-best method of control. All vehicle makers supplying artics to the Corporation from 1974 onwards will be asked to quote for systems combining antilock on the driving axle and load sensing on the semi-trailer axles.
While improvements in suspension systems would be welcomed by the NFC as a means of obtaining better braking as well as handling, Mr Batstone considers that the leaf spring is currently the most sensible form of suspension and will continue to be for some time. He points out that restraining the movement of an axle equipped with coil springs necessitates the use of radius and Panhard rods which create stress and wear problems. and that in practice a coil spring system is less stable than the leaf type.
Same as air The same comment is applicable to air suspension systems, and in Mr Batstone's view suspensions with one, two or three tapered leaves and slipper ends are the most satisfactory, type. These can be designed to give a progressive rating and no other system offers a viable alternative.
Mr Batstone is regretful that an articulated outift with a steerable bogie is so heavy, costly and complicated, because it offers the big advantage of reduced cut-in (as well as tyre wear) which can be invaluable on restricted premises and very useful during normal running because it eliminates problems associated with front and rear overhang of the semi-trailer.
The payload penalty of a well-known European make is around 1 ton and servicing of the linkage adds to maintenance costs. While a castored self-steering axle is relatively light and the cost is acceptable, it is not a practical proposition because of the difficulty of reversing the vehicle when the wheels are not parallel to the chassis and have been locked in position. He states, however, that it can be done by a driver experienced in the art. Operations in Europe with articulated vehicles from bases on the Continent have created weight distribution and semi-trailer interchangeability problems in the case of two-axle tractive units and have necessitated the use of trailers with three alternative kingpin positions of 2ft 10in. (860mm) behind the front of the semi-trailer for 32-ton-gvw vehicles and 3ft I lin. (1200mm) or 5ft 3in. (1600mm) for 36 /38-ton-gwv machines, the normal position of the fifth-wheel being 24in. to 30in. (685mm) from the centre of the driving axle. A gvw of 30 tons on four axles can be achieved only by a weight distribution giving 7 tons on the front axle, 11 tons on the driving axle and 10 tons on each of the semi-trailer axles. There is no problem with three-axle tractive units, which are common in Germany.
Loss of payload When NFC 32-ton-gvw outfits travel to Europe they operate from and to the UK at the domestic legal limit (with a standard semi-trailer) and interchangeability and compatibility are not affected. While the necessity to operate 34 /36-ton-gvw outfits at 32 tons on some long-distance runs between the UK and Europe involves a loss of payload and a somewhat higher fuel consumption, this is offset by the improved reliability of the vehicles, which would not be the case on short-distance runs. Legislation by the EEC Commission that promoted uniformity of gvw and axle weights would solve the interchangeability problem and would facilitate the solution of outstanding dimensional and weight distribution difficulties. But whether or not uniformity is the eventual outcome of negotiations, an increase in maximum overall length from 15m (49.2ft) to 15.5m (50.9ft) would, Mr Batstone emphasizes, provide a valuable latitude in the dimensional configuration of 38-ton-gvw outfits, as well as 32-ton-gvw machines. Regulations in Holland and Belgium currently permit internal operation of outfits with lengths up to 15.5m.
Major problem
Accommodating excessive cab overhang and locating the fifth-wheel and kingpin to give an acceptable load on the driving axle and acceptable front and rear swing of semi-trailers of various types is the major problem, and there are a number of vehicle makes which would particularly benefit from an overall length increase to 15.5m.
With an overall length of 15m it is necessary to use a tractive unit with a front overhang of not more than 1 m (3.28ft) to enable it to be coupled to different types of semi-trailer and carry the rated payload. While a gvw /driving axle ratio of 3.5 to 1 is preferred and currently all calculations are based on this ratio (the ratio has been generally adopted throughout Europe) it may be necessary to conform to some other yardstick of drive-axle loading in due course.
Excessive trailer swing at the front is considered preferable to excessive swing at the rear because the driver can more readily check the path taken by the front end than the rear end in dangerous situations.
The main problem in organizing container traffic, according to Mr Batstone, is the very high cost of cranage. In a typical case two high-capacity straddle cranes are required to handle the containers at peaktraffic times at a terminal, but one of the cranes is unemployed at normal times.
Demountable containers
Mr Batstone considers that vehicles with d■ mountable containers could profitably be used, if necessary in conjunction with a single crane at a terminal, to streamline traffic flow with the minimum of capital equipment. Freightliners, for instance, have recently introduced an intermodal system of demountable containers which certainly gives flexibility to movement of goods by containerization. He notes that demountables are increasingly being employed in Germany using a system of much the same type.
Mr Batstone also notes the trend in the UK towards the greater use of heavy vehicles with boxvan bodies in place of platform bodies, which corresponds with common practice in Europe. Exercises by the NFC have shown that employing boxvans for cargoes that Cart be conveniently carried in them may save as much as an hour at each end of a trip by obviating the need to manipulate and secure the tarpaulin and that a loss of payload of 25 /30cwt is more than offset by greater vehicle utilization, the elimination of tarpaulin and rope costs and a reduction in claims.