COMBINED OPERATION
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By A. E. Sherlock-Mesher THE resources of road, sea and rail transport were closely combined for the speedy erection of Europe's largest oil refinery, which was opened at Fawley, Hants, last Friday, by the Prime Minister, Mr. Attlee. Much of the plant had to be imported from America and was shipped to Southampton, where it was transferred to road or rail vehicles for the final 16-mile journey from the docks to Fawley.
Although at an early stage a railway siding was constructed right down to the wharf, hundreds of commercial vehicles were engaged in carrying excavated materials and in bringing plant, steel and other supplies to the site. Road passenger transport also played its part in carrying many of the workers from Southampton and surrounding districts to Fawley and back at the end of each shift.
Many of the goods vehicles used were owned by contractors, but the Road Haulage Executive and free hauliers took a good share in the work. The R.H.E. alone carried at least 29,000 tons of materials, some of them over long distances. For instance, during the past two years, British Road Services has been transporting to Fawley an average of 30 tons of electrical machinery a month from the Metropolitan Vickers works at Manchester.
The refinery has been built for the Esso Petroleum Co., Ltd., and Is intended to meet the United Kingdom's ever-increasing need for petroleum products. This country's demands have risen by 8m. tons a year in the past 12 years. When the plant is completed, in • 1953, it will increase Britain's refining
capacity to about 20m. tons a year, as compared with 3-1.m. tons in 1948.
The Esso refinery, which will cost about f38m., is the biggest single project in the programme of the major oil companies for the development of large-scale refining in Britain. Its present capacity is 51;rn. tons a year. This figure will be raised in about a year's time to over 6m. tons, when additional plant for producing lubricating oils and tractor fuels is completed. A sulphur refinery is also being installed.
The daily output of gallons of high-quality motor spirit will supply immediately the whole of the Esso company's expected requirements, which amount to more than a quarter of the total demand in the United Kingdom.
Construction was begun only two years ago. At the outset, a large site had to be cleared an I levelled. Since then, 31 miles of permanent railway have been laid down, and an even greater mileage of roads has been con structed, George Wimpey and Co., Ltd., was responsible for clearing and levelling a site of about 250 acres, the work involving heavy excavation, particularly in making a deep cutt:ng for the new railway. In addition, the company designed and constructed a camp, including all services and roads, for about 700 men, and built a permanent sewage works.
Materials moved comprised heavy top soil lying oa a mixture of sand and ballast. On the first contract, awarded in 1949, a maximum of 42 lorries (International KR8 5-cubic-yd. and Fordson 7V models) was used. Each vehicle averaged 80 miles during a 22-hour day of two shifts and worked six day and five night shifts is a week.
In carrying out the contract, the lorries hauled 484,000 cubic yds. of material,.in addition to which 554,000 cubic yds were excavated by scraper. The vehicles were loaded by crowd shovel aril unloaded by tipping, the material carried being used to bring the site up to the desired level. Ninety men were employed in transport.
A temporary repair shop was set upin the outbuildings of Cadland House, on thq site, and was staffed by eight fitters. Because the vehicles were worked night and day, and ground conditions were bad on account of wet weather, the maintenance required was extremely heavy. This year, George Wimpey and Co., Ltd., received a second contract, on which, at the peak of activity, 25 lorries were employed. They were International KR8 5-cubic-yd., Fordson Sussex six-wheeled 6-cubic-yd., Fordson ET7 short-wheelbase 4i-cubic-yd. and A.E.C. 9-cubic yd. vehicles. The A.E.C. dump wagons were constructed in the Wimpey workshops at Hayes Bridge and proved a success.
The lorries worked the same number of hours per day and per week and covered the same daily mileage as on the first contract. Altogether, 250,000 cubic yds. of material were moved by digger and lorry and 121,000 cubic yds. by scraper. Fifty-eight men were engaged in transport.
Mobile Maintenance On this occasion, a fully equipped mobile workshop, with six fitters, was used as the maintenance base. Fortunately, the weather was good, but at the poiht where soil was being shot to formtank beds and fire-banks, the going was bad, because the lorries had to dump the soil and then run over the top of it On an average, 30,000-35,000 cubic yds. of soil were dug and hauled each week.
To install the main refinery units, four guy derricks were erected. The largest of them, 265 ft. high with a boom 140 ft. long, operated by a 100 RIO h.p. field motor, had a rated lifting capacity of 100 tons. This equipment was used in handling a debutaniser tower (part of the catalytic cracking plant), which is 100 ft. high and weighs 135 tons.
The tower was delivered from Southampton docks to Fawley by the Special Traffics (Pickfords) Division of the R.H.E , using two Scammell 80-ton tractors and 32-wheeled twin bogies. All went well until the site was reached, where the ground was soft and wet.
The rear bogie soon sank slightly into the sat surface and shovels had to be used. A power winch was brought to the assistance of the two tractors and another move of about 25 ft. was made before the bogies again came to rest. A similar procedure was employed in making two further moves to the unloading point. There, the tower was lifted vertically and installed.
More than half the tonnage handled by the R.H.E. for the Fawley project originated in the London area. 'The Blackwall Tunnel group, for example, handled 150 tons of structural steel and 100 tons of other steel.•
Balaam Street depot was responsible for over 600 tons, consisting of 300 tons of bitumastic enamel, 150 tals of paint and thinners, 110 -ions of wire rope, 25 tons of steel rods and channels, and 20 Ions of roofing felt.
During a period of six months. Shepherd's Bush depot transported between 13,000 tons and 15,000 tons of bagged cement from the South Thames Cement Works to Fawley. At the peak, 100 tons of cement a day were passing through the depot. In addition. about 500 tons of structural steel and other building items were dealt with.
Other consignments from the London area comprised 2,000 tons of structural steel up to 55 ft. long, and 600 tons of assorted building plant, delivered by the Hayes (Middlesex) depot. Some of this material was for George Wimpey and Co., Ltd. The building plant included road scrapers•of 4-12-cubic-yd. capacity, cranes rank ing from manually operated 2-tonners up to 10-ton steam models, and an 80-ft. piling frame.
Heavy Haulage
The Executive's Southampton heavy haulage branch also made an important contribution to the erection of the refinery. It delivered 6,750 tons of pieces under 5 tons each, and 1,425 tons of sections of 5-10 tons each. In •addition, complete loads of 10 tons or more added up to 1.580 tons.
If this work does not appear to be the kind for which the services of heavyhauliers are usually engaged, the branch came into its own in delivering 12 boilers, ranging from 20-35 tons each, and four cases, each of 20-30 tons.
Between November, 1950, and July, 1951, the Special 1 raffles (Pickfords) Division hauled 833 tons of smaller loads from Southampton docks to the refinery site. Among the more awk.ward of them were three 20-ton drums, each 38 ft. long and 8 ft. 6 ins, wide; a 20-ton tubular badger; a 45-ton treating tower, and three pipe assemblies, each weighing 30 tops..
Five Southampton free hauliers also supplied vehicles to the main contrac tors and sub-contractors. They are A. E. Gash and Co., Ltd., Bitterne, H. Cornick and Sons, Ltd., Northam, Messrs. •F. R. Meacher and Son, Totton, Mr. R. G. Kingsnorth, Totton, and Messrs_ Tombs and Drake, Totton. They are all members of the Road Haulage Association.
Messrs. Mead:ter and Mr. Kingsnorth both carried some thousands of tons on behalf of various sub-contractors. Mr. F. R. Meacher told me that the work was extremely rough, and the vehicles often became bogged and had to be assisted by another lorry or tractor. Nevertheless, the Dodge vehicles which he used mainly on the contract gave good service_ Six vehicles were employed by him.
Mr. Kingsnorth generally used Bedford 5-ton tippers or long-wheelbase models, and supplied an average of two
or three vehicles a day. His lorries were employed on site clearance and took materials and plant from contractors' yards and stores to the site, particularly to the jetty and various buildings under construction.
Heavy Bus Traffic At the peak, over 5,000 men were employed in constructional work, and all but about. 700 of them, who lived on the site, had to be brought to and from their homes. A substantial number travelled by rail, but the bulk of the passenger traffic went by road.
Hants and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., has run buses from the Southampton area and special contract carriages from Fareham, Lymington and Bournemouth to Fawley. In addition, contract vehicles have been operated from Bournemouth by Charlie's Cars, and from the Portsmouth-Gosport area by Hants and Sussex Motor Services,
Ltd.
The greatest number of passengers originated in the Southampton and Totton districts, with the Portsmouth area supplying the next greatest volume. Although most of the Portsmouth passengers were carried in contract vehicles run by the Hants and Sussex concern, Hants and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., has maintained a regular stage-carriage Service with one doubledecker from Portsmouth to Fawley.
-By Stage Service
Substantial traffic is carried throughout the day between Southampton and the refinery on the Hants and Dorset concern's normal stage service, which is operated with double-deckers having seating capacities ranging from 48-54.
In November, 1949, Mr. D. W. Morison, traffic manager and assistant general manager of Hants and Dorset Motor Services, Ltd., told me, his Company had to put on three extra doubledeckers, but at the end of last year 32 double-deckers were being run. At the peak of construction, Hants and Dorset was carrying about 1,600 workpeople a day to and from the refinery.
Additional stage services, each carry
ing 20-100 passengers a day, were also operated from Portsmouth, Winchester, Fair Oak, Eastleigh and Lymington.
With the end of constructional work. traffic is gradually diminishing. About 2,500 people will, however, be employed permanently in the refinery, and most of them will have to travel daily Co and from it. Three eight-hour shifts are being worked, and special services are being run from Southampton for the employees.
The general growth of traffic between the Southampton area and the refiner has caused the Hants and Dorset staaz service to Fawley to be increased 1.;-y 50 per cent. since 1949. There is every
indication that the general traffic on this route is still expanding," Mr. Morison told me, "and with the growth of the new housing districts planned for the area between Hythe and Fawley, a further substantial increase of this service will no doubt be required."
The return fare from Southampton is 2s. 3d. A special five-day worker's ticket is available at a cost of 9s. and allows one double journey to be made each day from Monday to Friday.
The ferry service from Southampton to Rythe Pier is also carrying a substantial number of Fawley workers, who join the Hants and Dorset buses at Hythe. In an effort to approach Fawley more directly from the Netley and Hythe districts some of the workpeople have engaged a special motorboat to take them from Warsash to the refinery pier.
Distribution of the products of the Esso refinery will be mainly by sea to installations on the rivers Thames, Humber, Tyne, Clyde and Mersey, on
the Bristol Channel, and in Plymouth, Dublin and Belfast. The 3,200-ft. jetty which has been built can accommodate four 26,500-ton ocean tankers at a time. There will be little road transport of petroleum products direct from Fawley, and the Esso company does not expect to need many extra road tankers to deal with the output.