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TRANSPORTERS OF DELIGHT
Page 60
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A highly unionised workforce earning above the industry average... expensive specialised vehicles.., a market with two extreme demand peaks every year — Dave Young explores the car transporter sector.
the 1950s, whe ar carriers became
ommonplace on British roads, five arson an artic was considered a good is ayload. An increase in statutory dimensions
towed an upwards creep until during the 990s 12 cars could be squeezed on.
This has now dropped to 11, typically on multi-deck combination. The reason, says Jim Pearson of Transporter Engineering, is the everancreasrg width and height of hatchbacks not to mention the popularity
of SUVs and light commercial derivatives.
But optimising the 18.75m length of the drawbar rigs increasingly the sector's vehicle of choicewith a wagon that is unusable for any other purpose and which has aerodynamics that soak up fuel is tough.
So is trying to prosper in a highly unionised sector with above-average wages and high capital equipment costs. A long list of firms including Richard Lawson, Silcock and Coiling, Toleman, Abbey Hill and Tibbet and Britten have either gone to the wall got out while the going was bad.
There are also a host of subdivisions within car transporting, including: new car delivery; export and import; inter-dealer transfers: movements of second-hand and auction stock: fleet arid car rental relocations: exhibitions; films; and press-fleet deliveries.
To see how the sector is faring , CM spoke to two companies whose business models could hardly be more different.