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Bird 's eye view
Page 67
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*Not on the bone
George Downie, now managing director of European Cargo Handling Operations Ltd., but a former chief of African Container Express, is one of the most knowledgeable men to talk about container operations. Last week he gave a topical reminder that nothing stays static in transport for very long.
Boneless meat for export to Britain in containers is now being discussed in South America, he said. Meat hauliers ought to be able to charge more for hauling boneless meat. Dogs will hardly complain at changing to succulent British bones but will the NFU bark?
* Claustrophobic?
The loading of 40ft containers for maximum cube effect bothers a lot of transport and dispatch managers. Some delegates at the IMH Felixstowe conference thought fork-lift truck drivers would suffer from claustrophobia, though the skill required was held to be no greater than that necessary to stack pallets in racks 22ft high.
It was generally agreed that small pallets could be put within an inch or less of container walls but full-width pallets would require perhaps 3m, clearance on each side. As was quickly pointed out, that would mean losing at least 1ton in cargo carrying capacity.
* Over there
Glittering Institute of Transport occasion last week in Belfast: the Northern Ireland section's annual dinner drew not only the president, S. A. Finnis, but the Prime Minister, Terence O'Neill. I was interested to hear at first-hand from the president of some of the major changes in the Institute which have already been decided. For example, considerable alterations in the examination syllabuses, the appointment very soon of a director of training and education, and more contact with the universities (hooray).
Mr. Firmis spoke of the money provided by P. S. Henman for the series of overseas lectures in London, and the decision to allow a short paper for intending members who felt past the stage of sitting exams or writing theses. He felt that all these things would help the IoT to gain new impetus after a rather sluggish period. Inevitably, policy and politics popped up during the speeches. Northern Ireland's Prime Minister reminded us that every time the mainland (that's what they call us) went restrictive, NI went for liberation, and vice versa. He commended the results of the LITA break-up, and remarked drily that memory of his time as post-war Minister of Finance was of doling out millions of pounds to cover the operating losses of the centralized national transport system.
NIC's Trevor Thornton—last year's NI chairman—took up Capt. O'Neill's mention of a new relationship with the Republic. The transport world had not lost the opportunity to develop links with the South. In fact, I understand that over 3,000 journeys have been made across the border by NIC vehicles alone.
* Eyes on Leyland
I see that Sir Donald Stokes had a busy day in Leyland on Monday of last week. During the afternoon he handed over Manchester's first specially built one-man double-decker. (CM, last week) and in the evening chaired the Leyland Motors Ltd. annual apprentices' prize distribution.
Present at both events was Sir Gerald Nabarro, MP, with a television film crew who were taking sequences for a BBC 2 film concerning British performance, called Through one pair of eyes. Sir Gerald said he had selected Leyland as one of two firms
for an industrial sequence, because of "their prowess, progress, export performance" and because of their faith in the future. He welcomed Sir Donald's call for eager, thrusting, ambitious young men: "In this age of the common man, what we want in Britain are uncommon men who have these qualities," he said. Neat phrasing.
* Like father, like son
Another person who attended both ceremonies was Bob Bannister, Leyland demonstration driver. Like the time earlier this month when he drove a 36ft bus destined for the Dominican Republic, temporarily lengthened to 4Oft, round London to see if it could be operated into Victoria Coach Station by a Scottish operator, Bob was demonstrating the one-man double-decker. In the evening he watched proudly as his 20-year-old son, Derrick, went up to receive a turner's apprentice award.
* Storming the bastions
Sir Donald said he saw no reason why girls should not be trained as engineers, too, provided they were properly qualified and they wore overalls and not mini -skirts in the workshops. Our Northern staff girl was one of the first to drive the new bus after the hand-over. Are more cherished men-only outposts falling?