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CM'S fact-finding 'crusade' to the Middle-East

21st March 1975, Page 25
21st March 1975
Page 25
Page 25, 21st March 1975 — CM'S fact-finding 'crusade' to the Middle-East
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by lain Sherriff BY THE TIME you read this our Crusaders should be rolling across Central Europe, approaching the Balkans on a journey to the Middle East to gather up-to-date transport information for CM readers. Will the Turks allow Crusaders in without a struggle? That, in modern form, is the sort of question I hope to answer from firsthand experience — in reports which I shall send week by week on my trip to Teheran, and perhaps beyond.

Already I have had firsthand experience of the delays which even well-organized forays can encounter: permit problems; agents switching traffic from road to sea at the last minute; political troubles in Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria. So we did not leave last Sunday as intended.

Now I have joined a three-vehicle convoy — two Crusaders and a Scania 110 operated by Eastern BRS out of Northampton, loaded for Teheran; even this operation encountered early snags but these seem to have been overcome, and a midweek departure seems likely.

Although road freight has been moving to the Middle East since the early Sixties, and some hauliers are now well established in this traffic, the highway to Iran and the Persian Gulf is not yet a well-trodden track, and the "petrodollar boom" is luring many operators into the business.

New operators, new drivers and new vehicles set out on what for many is a great adventure but, according to reports which filter back, a large percentage come to grief before reaching their destination. Inadequate planning and documentation — sometimes illegal documentation — undertrained drivers; uneconomic rates; and a general ignorance of the law, are among the dozens of pitfalls which have to be overcome along the 3000-mile route, and concern in official circles is mounting. But rumours are one thing, fact another. It is to find out at first hand what the problems really are that I have joined this convoy.

Our destination is Teheran but hopefully I shall also find time to visit some of the ports and warehouses at the southern end of the Gulf.

The vehicles have been serviced to the manufacturers' specification and we are carrying snow chains, spare fuel pipes and injectors, spare air filters, towchains, wiper blades, nuts, bolts, electric cable and a tool kit. indeed everything that might be required for roadside repairs.

The documentation is, so far as I can tell at this stage, complete. Each vehicle carries a GV60, a carnet de passage, insurance green card, driver's passport and international and domestic driving licences, together with transit permits for Germany and Yugoslavia. The vehicles are travelling under TIR carnets and the documentation includes a CMR note for the load, a certificate of shipment and four copies of the invoice for the goods. We have all read the note from the British Consulate-General in Istanbul (this issue, page 20). Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Tags

Organisations: British Consulate
Locations: Istanbul, Teheran

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