There's Business In the
Page 56
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Haulage of Coal for Hospitals
Hauliers Should Not Miss the Opportunity of Getting Business from Hospitals and Institutions Which Use an Enormous Amount of Fuel
AN attractive and steady employment for heavy lorries can be found in taking boiler fuel to hospitals. This useful sideline is not always apparent to hauliers hiving industrial commitments. However, there are some hundreds of hospitals and institutions, many of them with large engineering plant. which necessitate large contracts being placed I'with pits for steam coal or slack.
Most visitors to hospitals and institutions are .surprised at the extent of the engineering equipment, and the first question usually asked is: " What is it all for? "
In brief, the plant is divided into three main schemes (a) To provide steam power for laundry and bakehouse machinery and kitchen equipment.
(b) To provide hot-water supplies to the many tap points and baths.
(c) To provide heat for the radiators.
There have been many attempts to find a substitute for coal or slack, but with little success. Oil has been tried, but the duty on heavy oil has compelled many to revert to coal-fired boilers. Electricity has also been tried, but with painful surprises when the bill for the quarter's consumption has been rendered! The fact remains that steam coal or slack for boiler fuelling and power production, and coke for firing kitchen and bakehouse equipment, have no serious rivals.
Big Quantities Used.
As regards quantities of fuel used, these are considerable. A hospital of 800 beds would use either steam coal or slack for boiler firing. If the former, a year's purchase would be approximately 3,000 tons. If slack is the medium, the purchase would probably be about double that quantity.
In addition, the hospital would require between 200 tons and 300 tons of house coal, which is used for issue to residents in furnished quarters and staff houses, and, in some instances, for open fires in the wards. The purchase of coke for firing ovens and glasshouses would be about 300 tons per year.
The average hospital has considerable engineering plant. In the main, it usually consists of three 30-ft. Lancashire boilers for steam, hot water arid heat, two of which are in' constant use during the cold months of the yeas, and, perhaps, only one in the summer months, together with the usual economizer, water softener, and, possibly, three dynamos for generating power and light.
A hospital laundry usually contains two large-sized ironers, three hydro extractors, two, or, perhaps, three, washing machines, and smaller equipment. The average-size oven is one which will cook up to 800-1,000 lb. of meat. The bakehouse usually has a large-capacity oven and mechanical dough-mixers
Contract Periods.
Purchases are usually made at pithead rates on either a six or twelvemonthly basis; the latter is most favoured. With this contract goes a supplementary one for hauling and the haulier is usually invited to tender separately. One of the most important conditions of contract is that deliveries should be made at certain specified times. The most favoured is a daily delivery, but in the rural institutions this is not always possible. Even these, however, make arrangements for a certain tonnage per week, usually delivered to rail-head and thence 'by road.
In the past the railway companies have certainly monopolized this transport, but there are certain minor sources of irritation for which they themselves are to blame. It is not always possible to obtain from them the best service as to deliveries.
In fact, in rural areas, it is quite a common occurrence for a large consignment of trucks, possibly a double supply, to arrive in the local station, leaving the local road contractor little
time to empty them. The result is a charge for demurrage. How much more efficiently could road transport tackle this traffic, hauling" direct from the pit-head.
In some cases, hospitals have bought their own lorries to do the work, but this practice is not generally favoured. Expense is considerable if the vehicle be not kept working at 100 per cent. capacity. Wages must be paid whether the driver be working or not. Therefore, it is not surprising that most institutions would prefer to contract with a haulier who can proportion his overheads over a fleet of vehicles. .
There is no doubt that the railway companies will oppose any attempt to increase road haulage of this' nature, but they stand little chance of success' if the haulier and officials be determined to use road transport.
Constant Work Available.
From the haulier's point of view, a hospital contract gives an excellent opportunity for keeping at least, one and possibly two heavy lorries in constant work. The minimum daily delivery of a small hospital would be about 12 tons, and of a larger one possibly double that amount, and payment would be on either a tonnage or a mileage basis. . .
A minimum contract for six months is a better proposition to the haulier than arince business. Moreover, to the writer's knowledge, once a haulage concern gains the reputation for good service it can rely on constant repeat contracts, regardless of price-cutting attempts.
At one hospital in which the writer served, a certain haulier held the haulage contract from the local railhead to the institution for more than 30 years, commencing with one-horsed carts, and later turning to mechanical transport, a tribute alike to the capacity of the concern for service and to the trust reposed in it.
There is one other excellent point. Any concern carrying out its transport contracts with ability can safely rely on recommendations from the institution to other public services, and a personal recommendation goes far in attracting new business.