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WEIG HTY

22nd March 2007, Page 54
22nd March 2007
Page 54
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Page 54, 22nd March 2007 — WEIG HTY
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

MATTERS

Times are changing for heavy operators with more regulation on the way and increasing foreign competition. Tim Maughan takes a

look at this specialist transport sector. Mainstream haulage may be dominated by 44-tonners,but when it conies to transporting excavators, piling rigs, battle tanks and the like something sturdier is required, which is where heavy haulage comes into its own.And this highly specialised sector is changing.

Steve King is MD of Bristol-based Kings Heavy Haulage, which runs 20 trucks up to a GVW of 125 tonnes.

He explains that the heavy haulage sector has traditionally got by without middlemen, being run by operators themselves. But now the freight forwarders who have always been involved with lighter transport operations are appearing in the land of the heavies.

You get a lot more [heavy] transport companies that do not have any trucks." he says. "They are freight forwarders— and they can undercut us by a substantial amount."

The other major change involves cabotage. Again, this has always been the preserve of conventional haulage fleets hut now heavy haulage specialists from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are bidding for jobs in this country. King believes his foreign competitors see the British heavy market as a relatively easy target:"It's easy to plunder...1 think this is their perception."

British heavy hauliers tend to run with three-axle tractors and matching triaxle trailers, while their Continental counterparts more often run two-axle units, which can lead to problems in this country. "They carry the loads that we carry, so they are often overloaded," King explains.

Until three years ago abnormal loads in this country were routinely given a free police escort. But this often caused delays when the police were called away.

Private service

Escort duties were farmed out to the private sector but hiring an escort service costs around £.300 a day. King duly set up his own escort service. It costs him up to £250 a day to keep an escort van and driver on the road, but that's still a significant saving.

There are other benefits to running an inhouse escort service. In the days of police escorts, Kings often had to wait for traffic officers to turn up and accompany a truck. Now, the vehicles can take to the roads in their own time. "We are able to schedule loads now," says King. "Before. we were always in the hands of the police."

Shoddy escorts He says the in-house set-up also allows him to avoid some of the shoddy escort outfits that have appeared since the police left the scene. King recalls the story of one van.whose owner simply popped a flashing light on the top of it and set himself up as a specialist escort outfit. -It was quite comical," he smiles.

Unwary or busy heavy operators may well find that a last-minute job entails calling in any firm they can find, and it could be that any lack of quality and experience becomes apparent at the worst possible time." It's all very well until everything goes wrong," warns King.

One change on the horizon for heavy hauliers is the European Whole Vehicle Type Approval programme,which is likely to come into effect in 2012.This will require truck trailers over 44tonnes to be registered, and possibly undergo annual inspections. It's a move that King welcomes. At the moment, he says, the condition of heavy trailers on the roads varies greatly and FAVVTA will bring about a degree of standardisation.

"You can come down to our yard, take a trailer away, test it, and it will pass," he says. "But I know of heavy haulage outfits which don't even have a pit.They do their inspections above ground." •

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Locations: Bristol

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