Boxed chicken
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Why do railwaymen have 27ft henhouses ? Freightliners chairman George Gibb had the answer at last week's 10th birthday celebrations for the road-rail service.
The first Freightliner containers were made 271t long because that was the maximum that current road vehicle regulations made possible. No sooner had they been delivered than the permitted lengths were raised twice in fairly quick succession — and the 27-footer became a redundant box.
The birthday cake, cut by Transport Minister Dr Gilbert (who's getting more rapid public exposure than anyone since Ernie Marples, I reckon) was a most elaborate confection representing a depot transporter crane and containers.
The company's trading profitably just now, but will make a loss over the year. Seems to roe that if they want to get Freightliners into a solidly profitable state they could do worse than canvass hauliers whose operations are going to be upset by an eight-hour driving day. In fact, hauliers were at one time supplying 40 per cent of the Freightliner traffic : did they become disillusioned by service or price?