Stabilizing Rates for
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Short-distance Haulage
Serious Conditions in the Sand and Ballast Haulage Trade—How the New Association Can Improve Them
IN our issue for last week we briefly referred to the resolution passed on April 8th by a number of important sand and ballast hauliers and merchant hauliers at a meeting held at Hounslow, When it was decided to form an association to stabilize haulage rates on an economic basis and to protect members. in the course of the meeting Mr. F. F. Fowler, of Murrell's Wharf, Ltd., and i other speakers, explained very clearly the position as it is to-day, and it is plain that the hauliers and merchant builders have interests which are different from those of the quarry owners.
If quarry owners run vehicles they are able, when quoting for material on a delivered basis, to include the haulage factor at cost price. It should be noted by everybody and particularly the quarry-owner hauliers that this is not a businesslike proceeding as a substantial capital outlay is involved and it should yield an economic return. The quarry owners, however, can only offer the buyer the qualities of sand, ballast, gravel, etc., available from their own individual pits, whereas when the buyer goes to the merchant or haulier the latter is able to offer him the choice of varied sources of supply.
The Merchant-haulier's Position.
The merchant's position lies in his oldestablished relations with builders, roadconstruction companies, etc., which concerns he supplies with other goods quite apart from ballast and sand. He also frequently gives considerable credit -facilities to his customers and, in that direction, is valuable to the quarry owner and the haulier. The strength of the haulier who is a sand and ballast merchant but not a quarry owner, lies in the fact that the buyer knows that, when purchasing from him, he is assured of deliveries when and how required.
The haulier can also, as above stated, draw materials from a number of pits to satisfy the buyer and give him the particular grade that he may want. It appears that whilst hauliers and merchant hauliers have been forced to cut rates to quite uneconomical figures, the reduction in the delivered cost of the material is not such as makes an appreciable difference to the finished cost of a building or a mile of first-class road.
Mr. Fowler, in his speech, tried to foresee weaknesses in the proposal to form an association. The first weakness he picked out was the possibility of quarry owners increasing their fleets of vehicles. Against this, however, are the difficulties which quarry owners, equally with hauliers, would find in obtaining the necessary finance to purchase rolling stock, also the difficulty which they would have in finding work for the vehicles when they could not be employed upon delivering their own material.
There is always the big seasonal demand and usually the seasonal bad patches. This is where the haulage contractor has an advantage, as it is always c26 open to him to transfer his vehicles to other types of work. Another possible weakness, of course, lies in the difficulty of obtaining loyalty on the part of the members of an association of this kind. This, it may be skid, is the main objection, but it is not insuperable.
An association of sand and ballast hauliers could first of all centre its attention upon the standardization of haulage rates on an economic basis. Secondly, the association could develop for itself a bargaining power which would be useful when negotiating with other associations and with local government bodies and the Ministry of Transport, etc. Thirdly, excellent work could be done in the direction of decentralizing the transport by dividing the home counties into geographical areas. This would ease local congestion and rationalize the trade.
One reason why the present position in the sand and ballast trade is so serious is that the Ministry of Transport intends, by regulations, to improve the standard of efficiency of vehicles in that as well as in other trades. Eventually the pneumatic tyre will be compulsory.
The rates at present prevailing do not allow a factor for depreciation which will permit of the replacement of old vehicles by modern and comparatively costly rolling stock. Steps that have been taken in the past year or more to improve the conditions surrounding the delivery of ballast, etc., have not had any beneficial effect upon delivered rates, any rise in quarry prices being discounted by a fall in transport charges.
As Mr. H. Janes, of Janes Bros. (Contractors), Ltd., pointed out, there are indications that pit owners, generally speaking, do not want to operate their own transport fleets and, provided they could rely upon sound transport facilities at standardized rates, such as an association might make available to them, they would in many cases reduce or dispense with their transport vehicles.
Appreciation of the 13.S.A.T.A.
Mr. Fowler, who was chairman of the meeting and was elected to that position on the committee of the new association, proposed that an expression of cordiality be made towards the Ballast, Sand and Allied Trades Association, saying that he had a profound admiration for the work which Mr. Wells, the chairman of that association, had done. There was no reason why the new association should not work hand-in-hand with the B.S.A.T.A., and all present at the meeting concurred in this attitude.
As stated in our issue for last week, a committee of seven, in addition to the chairman, was elected, this comprising the following ;--Mr. F. P. Fowler (Murrell's Wharf, Ltd., 23, Upper Ground Street, London, S.E.1) ; Mr. E. S. Clifford (Cliffords (Fulham), Ltd., Great West Road, London, W.4) ; Mr. T. Leigh De Frahm (Chartridge, Chesham, Bucks.) ; Capt. E. G. Gordon-Poggi (Gordon Transport Co., Ltd., 6, Stamford Brook Road, London, WA) ; Mr. H. J. Greenharn (Henry J. Greenharn (1929), Ltd., Langley, Bucks) ; Mr. H. Hands (Wm. Truclsel, Ltd., 141e, Battersea Park Road, London, S.E.8) • Mr: T. R. Sanders (5, High Street, *hailsor) ; Mr. H. Janes (Janes Bros. (Contractors), Ltd., 2c, Buckingham Avenue, Trading Estate, Slough).