Timber dock switches from rail to road
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by Ashley Taylor,
AM I RTE, Assoc I nst T OVER a long period receivers of cargoes at Newcastle's Tyne Dock enjoyed good service at reasonable cost. But five or six years back changes in the flow of timber, notably a fall in the volume of pit props handled, seriously affected the situation with which the Tyne Improvement Commission (predecessor of the present Port of Tyne Authority), had to deal.
Concerned at the growing losses being incurred by the internal rail transport system the Authority called for a report on this section of the undertaking from consultants and after careful study, they recommended a change from rail to road transport for sawn wood.
Action was then taken by the establishment of a Working Party whose brief was to examine the position, to make personal contact with those most concerned in the particular trade, and to devise new methods for dealing with timber. Some increase in the cost to the customer would in any event have to be faced in the course of years, but it was determined that in the long term both the port and the receivers of timber cargoes should benefit by the new arrangements.
Any changeover of this nature inevitably occupies considerable time so it was February last before all was complete, although considerable sections were-in use at a much earlier stage.
Substitution of road for rail has cost a total of something like £250,000, but the Authority is now able to dispense with a large number of locomotives and wagons as well as removing the major portion of the rail track.
Tyne Dock and Albert Edward Dock, the areas concerned, were constructed in an era when rail transport was unchallenged and until recently the Authority maintained there over 100 miles of rail tracks to national standards, employing twelve diesel-electric locomotives and more than 2,500 wagons.
Mr. G. S. R. Watkins, commercial manager of the Port of Tyne Authority, told me that as a result of increases in the wages of maintenance and operating staffs the cost of internal rail transport had risen rapidly over the past 10 years. This had to be related to a serious reduction in the total tonnage of timber transported due to the cutback in imports of pitwood for the mines of Northumberland and Durham. Not only had the weight of timber handled fallen by 100,000 tons in a single period of two years but the receivers of timber with tenancies on the dock estate were dispatching wood, including pit props, from the dock by road so that a double reduction in income was being sustained by the Authority.
Viewed in conjunction with modern developments in road haulage equipment these changes made internal rail transport an inherently uneconomical means of serving a large number of points in a restricted area. The position had to be faced that in order to make the railway section viable it would be necessary to increase charges substantially—a move that would be virtually certain to drive traffic from the port.
After thorough investigation, including individual and collective consultations with the timber importers at the docks, the method it was decided to adopt was to land the timber on quays clear of rail tracks, have it banded by dockers and transferred by fork trucks to a transit area. Subsequent delivery would be made by road vehicles to the receivers. In order to avoid interference with the regular imports of deals, battens and boards the decision was taken to inaugurate the new system at the Factory Quay on the east side of the dock.
First came the removal of railway and crane tracks—together with cranes, hydraulic accumulators, capstans and fairleadsfrom the quay over an area 645ft long and 150ft wide. The quay had then to be resurfaced with an apron of reinforced concrete some 40ft wide and provided with floating fenders, bollards and timber coping. Two diesel-electric mobile road cranes with 60ft jibs were brought in to operate within the area described. These are capable of lifting four tons at a radius of 40ft when blocked.
Transit area
Behind the quays a transit area 600ft long and 110ft wide has been provided for the storage of various classes of timber, this being divided up into 94 numbered bays, each 25ft wide and 15ft deep. The surface was covered in hot rolled asphalt and a service road over a mile long was built to connect the transit area with existing internal roads and the timber tenancies. To facilitate unloading of the trailers each of the tenants on the dock was required to provide a reception area of not less than 200 sq. yd.
One 22,000lb. fork-lift truck with 102in. forks, an 8,000lb. fork truck, two 12-ton trailers and two small dunnage trailers were acquired for timber transport.
Most of the trailers, battens and boards, said Mr. Watkins, are imported from Scandinavia and are shipped loose in random lengths, the method of discharge being unchanged. Slings are landed on to bearers on the quay and are banded together, using plastic strapping to produce consignments of approximately one standard of timber (the equivalent of 165 Cu. ft.). Each such package is marked with a bill of lading number and other information before being carried by a smaller fork-lift truck to the transit area already mentioned. There it is left in the appropriate bay. If stacked four packs high the bay will accommodate 20 standards from the same bill of lading.
Pre-planning of the location of cargoes in the transit area takes place as soon as a ship's manifest is received and a ticket for each pack is completed prior to the vessel's arrival. Delivery is arranged at 24 hours' notice, a fork-lift truck towing a trailer that is capable of carrying four standards of timber at a
time. With their 102in. forks the 22.000lb. trucks can load and discharge timber whilst working from one side of the trailer. Records of the receipt and distribution of the timber are kept in a checkers' cabin from which the whole location is controlled.
Substitution of the road delivery system for rail commenced on the west side of Tyne Dock in April 1968. Here it was necessary to remove four railway tracks, to resurface the area of 4,000 sq. yd. behind the cranes on the North West Quay to provide for landing the timber,' also to resurface 27,000 sq. yd. of the area for employment as a transit yard. This latter area was marked out in 174 numbered bays, each 24ft long by 18ft wide and having access passages 40ft wide.
The surface of the transit area comprises 6in. waterbound macadam laid on a compacted ash foundation and topped with 2in. hot rolled asphalt, the whole being designed inaccordance with Ministry of Transport Road Note 29 to carry wheel loadings of the 22,000lb. trucks. To handle the transportation here a further seven 22,000lb. forklift trucks with102in. forks were acquired, together with 10 trailers of 12-ton capacity.
The whole system has been planned to accelerate the discharge and landing of loose sawn wood and to eliminate delays to vessels resulting from shortage of railway wagons on the quay.
It has been found excellent for handling pre-slung and packaged timber. The banding which takes place on the quayside will, of course, be unnecessary when Baltic soft sawn wood is imported in package form.