BIG CHANCES FOR SCOTTISH HAULAGE From a Special Correspondent QCOTLAN
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D'S £20m. pulp mill at Corpach will go into operation next year and plans are now being worked out to handle the vast new haulage work which will be involved in this first-ever activity in Scotland. It is accepted that the haulage aspects will loom large in the pattern of operation of the new mill; there is no lack of timber and the real problem is to get the timber to the mill. The Forestry Commission will provide 200,000 tons of pulpwood per year from forests throughout Scotland and in addition 130,000 tons of hardwood will be brought by sea. British Railways will handle a major. proportion of the homegrown timber through a specially organized depot at Crianlarich, to which point road haulage will feed.
Rail Feeder Traffic
From Argyll, the south-western areas of Scotland, Stirlingshire, Perthshire and Strathyre, road haulage will deliver to the railhead for rail transit to the pulp mill: about 30 per cent of the total usage will go in this way. Supplies from the north and north-east of Scotland will go directly by road through the Great Glen to Corpach, and will be routed away from Fort William to avoid congestion there during the tourist season. Seaborne supplies will go direct to a new lock which is being developed. The loading and transportation of the pulpwood will be the responsibility of the mill and local merchants and local hauliers will be employed wherever these are available. The pulp mill will also operate some vehicles to cover areas where no local hauliers are available.
New Handling Equipment
From Argyll, the south-western areas of convert something like half the 200,000 tons of pulpwood from home sources; the rest will be handled by the timber trade. Haulage will be co-ordinated and will benefit from about one year of advance training and experiment in the use of new handling equipment. But the ultimate pattern of transportation will emerge when work really begins. Already the problems are evident. Roads and bridges in many areas are known to be inadequate to allow the passage of vehicles with heavy timber loads and work is being done to improve these routes.
There has been much greater use of vehicles equipped with winches, mechanical hoists and grabs permitting the lorry driver to load single-handed and so avoid lost time for the logging teams. These trends will require to he maintained and expanded if the operation is to proceed smoothly and economically. Specialist haulage concerns familiar with logging work already exist within these Scottish areas and they now face a substantial expansion of their operations.