"Continent Isolated" No I
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THE" Continentals have rather different ideas about vehicle construction from we British, and an early problem facing those who pioneered cross-Channel haulage services was the provision of vehicles which, although of the type considered satisfactory here, did not meet with approval on the other side of the water. These operators, and those who supply their equipment, have learnt much in developing what might be called "
universal" vehicles capable of meeting the regulations imposed by various countries and able to run anywhere.
A result of their endeavours has been to forge a spearhead by which vehicle manufacturers can penetrate Continental markets. A fund of knowledge has been built up from which makers interested in extending their sales in Europe can draw. In this context one talks mainly with semi-trailers in mind, for most of the ferry traffic is handled by articulated outfits.
Semi-trailers Preferred
Ferry charges are based upon square footage of deck space covered by the vehicle: thus the semi-trailer is eminently preferable, because all the space paid for at 5s. a -square fait is superimposed by payload. When rigid vehicles are employed it is ustially because the driver is required to fulfil some function in the delivery of the load. In such a case the dispatch of a rigid vehicle avoids the need to hire a tractor on the other side. Traffic requiring to be accompanied by a driver is mainly that handled under C licence, but it is only a small part of the tonnage now flowing backwards and forwards between Britain and the Continent.
It is prcibably true that the initiative in developing road sea services to the Continent was taken by the British rather than by the Continentals, which is contrary to the time-honoured image of British isolation from the rest of Europe. (Remember the joke about the headline in an evening newspaper—" Fog in Channel: Continent Isolated"?). The reason may have been pure chance, in that Continental vehicles built to the maximum regulation width of 2.5 metres (8 ft. 2+ in.) are too wide fOr British,.• acceptance.
Nearly all the semi-trailers used on the services are of British make: the Dutch and the Belgians have specially
manufactured some, but it is, perhaps, not difficult to imagine what. they thought about having to do so. There may be a source of potential discontent by the Continentals if, for the sake of a mere 2+ in., their vehicles cannot be allowed into this country, at least not without a lot of rigmarole about authorization of special types.
From the point of view of the British Ministry of Transport, of course, to allow vehicles of this width into Britain would establish a precedent, but quite a fillip to the growth of road-sea facilities might be gained by a relaxation in this respect. There is no great reason to think that British trailer makers would lose much business as a result, and certainly more tractors would be required.
This matter of width is really one of standardization. In the early stages British operators had to devise vehicles , which met Continental standards, particularly concerning braking. In general, on the Continent, a certain braking area is required for a certain weight, and it is no secret now that one or two of the earliest British semi-trailers dispatched across the sea did not exactly come up to
requirements inthis respect. Nowadays the brakes are
big, and the twin-line air pressure system is usual, although some vehicles have vacuum lines. Break-away brakes are necessary on both semi-trailers and independent trailers.
Then couplings had to be standardized, and the S.A.E. pin type was chosen. Lighting also needed suitable attention. Quick-release couplings of the latest heavy type would not save much time, as there are procedures at the ports which allow adequate time for hitching and unhitching in the ordinary way.
Once suitable equipment was found the growth in the traffic astonished even the most optimistic. One operatorwho started with two semi-trailers two years ago now has 48 shifting goods at the rate of 6,000 tons a year. A recapitulation of the advantages of road-sea transport will explain this. Probably the most important is speed. Transit to most towns, apart from those in the immediate neighbourhood of major airports, is faster than by air.
Broadly, a consignment to the near Continent will take two days, and farther afield—to Switzerland, for example—four days. On the long haul to Italy, however, there is some competition against a fast rail service. Otherwise, the road-sea services, which can nearly always beat the air lines, can hold their own against the railways. One likes to think of the difference a Channel tunnel would make, or maybe, more 'realistically, of the big hoverplanes which are envisaged.
The elimination of packaging is another great attraction, especially for consignors of machinery, for whom this factor is possibly more important than speed. A crate for a machine 30 ft. long, 5 ft. high and 6 ft. wide could cost £400—much more than the cost of delivery.
A consignment of 34 loads taken from the north of England to the Low Countries by road-sea saved the company concerned some £16,000 compared with rail transit. Indeed, it was a temptation for one operator to say to a customer: We'll carry your stuff for nothing:. just you pay us what you save in packaging." Operators also say that the incidence of damage and pilfering by
road-sea is reduced almost to nothing, and can bear this out by their claims records, A further, although minor, advantage is that the use of road-sea facilities involves less documentary work for the consignor. All the associated matters concerned with wharfing, bonding and so on are dealt with by the carriers, so that the customer is presented with one comprehensive bill. Having paid it, he is not left wondering whether, in a few months' time, a mysterious statement will turn up from some odd spot on the Continent concerning a charge for frontier inspection.
It is interesting to analyse a charge that may be made for a movement. Let us take a 15-ton load from the north of England for Western Germany, sailing via Tilbury. First, the load has to be brought to Tilbury, involving the use of a suitable vehicle for a day—£45. At this stage the Port of London Authority impose their wharfage charges and dock dues—perhaps £19. The sea crossing itself adds another £52, and the reception procedure at Antwerp costs £20, the• final road haulage stage costing £50—total, £186. For a longer run, the road haulage element would be greater—perhaps £120 for a journey from Antwerp to Italy plus frontier charges.
However well the total might compare with the cost by other means for transport, one instinctively looks at a price and wonders how it can be reduced. Much as they might wish to lower prices, there is not much the operators who offer this service can do, as they have direct control over only a part of the total cost. Of the £186 for the movement taken as an example, for instance, only about half is on account of road haulage.
Any reduction would seem to lie mainly in the ferry charges and, although nobody has complained that these are too high, some people wonder why the rate on the Dover-Calais trip should be the same as on the much longer Tilbury-Antwerp route. The reason is, obviously, protection.
Another circumstance which at first examination seems illogical is the insistence by stevedoring workers that they should place the semi-trailers on the vessels. In the early days, lorry drivers shunted the semi-trailers on board, unhitched and drove off, likewise doing the job themselves when collecting a load, The stevedores did not approve of this, considering that they were being deprived of work, not apparently understanding that they would not have touched the goods, anyway, if the road-sea service had not been started.
No Delay to Drivers In practice, however, there are advantages, inasmuch as a haulier can send vehicles to the dock, leave the semitrailers there and allow the drivers to return at once with the tractors. When the vessel is ready to be loaded, this is done by dock labour and there need be no delay to hauliers' prime movers or drivers.
There is an element of expertise in the stevedores' job. For one thing, the vehicles must be placed so as not to upset the trim of the ship. If there is not a full load, the rear of the deck is used, so that the weight of the vehicles keeps the vessel's screws in the water.
At Tilbury, the work of loading and unloading is done by four drivers, two of whom bring the semi-trailers from their parking -places to the quayside, whilst the others place them on the vessel. The men use the stevedoring company's own vehicles, but should these not •prove suitable fos any semi-trailer, the haulier's tractor is driven by them. With the tractor unhitched, the fronts of the semi-trailers are let down on to trestles, the work of four other men, and seven lashers secure the chassis to the deck with steel chains and tensioners.
B18 After sailing on the M.V. " Bardic Ferry through a Force 8 gale, it occurred to me how important this lashing was, and how necessary it was for the hauliers, in their turn, to secure the loads on the platforms of the vehicles. The vessel has stabilizers which check the roll, but nothing practical can be done to mitigate pitch. In effect, the vehicles are put through a dynamic tilt test in both widthwise and lengthwise directions lasting, in the case I experienced, for well over an hour.
The stevedores have a light tractor and a bogie for handling consignments on Lancashire flats. The •wiring of the vessel provides nine 440v. A.C. sockets for refrigerated vehicles. There are various fire points and the vehicles are placed so as not to obstruct them. Other members of the dock crew are a crane driver (goods may be placed in the hold through a hatch), and the foreman. Up to 60 large vehicles may be carried on the " Bardie Ferry," and the dockies " can unload and load the vessel in six hours or less.
The cost of their work is covered by the ship owners' price for the use of the ferry. This has been quoted at 5s. per square foot of deck space; but needs amplification. For vehicles weighing over 25 tons and up to 40 tons gross the cost is 6s. and from 40 tons to 65 tons (the limit for the ship's floor) 7s. Empty vehicles—including those carrying empty boxes, pallets and even bottles—are charged at 45.
Something of a Poser
Dock fees for the use of Tilbury seem excessive to hauliers who may be unaware of the background to them. An imported load is charged at £1 7s. 6d. per ton of gross vehicle weight and an exported load at 15s., whilst unladen vehicles travelling in either direction incur a levy of 5s. per ton. This scale compares with the use of Dover at £1 10s. per vehicle, irrespective of weight. The point is, however, that something of a poser was presented to the Port of London Authority, a non-profit-making organization, when the road-sea service began.
In the normal way, P.L.A. charges are classified so that valuable freight is liable to a heavier charge per ton than low-value goods. Goods travelling by road-sea did not lend themselves easily to such a way of gaining the revenue due to the Authority and so the method of levying a toll per ton of gross vehicle weight, heedless of the nature of the load itself, was devised.
To the haulier who pays, perhaps, £19 and seems to get for it the use of a few hundred yards of dock road for a matter of minutes, the position is. let us say, puzzling, but is more understandable when one views the whole picture of the facilities which the P.L.A. have to provide. Hauliers may be justifiably aggrieved at having to contribute towards the cost of dock facilities of which they make no use.
Close and continual co-operation with Continental associates is essential to British operators working _ these services. Two-way loading is vital to profitability, and the practical side of running these facilities largely resides in finding traffic to fill vehicles on return journeys. This is made easier than might be thought by the nature of most of the traffic handled—capital goods. People usually know months in advance when a piece of machinery will be ready for transport.
Two-way loading is also desirable in itself as a means for keeping vehicles flowing in steady streams both ways across the sea. If traffic in one direction should exceed the volume in the other, there would be a build-up of semi-trailers at one port and a shortage on the other side.
Operators have been in the field long enough now to be able to rely almost completely upon their own customer contacts to gain business. Shipping and forwarding agents are only occasionally approached. At present there is no formal arrangement for the payment of commissions to agents, as they enjoy with longer-established services. When agents have traffic to consign, they naturally offer it first to the traditional facilities. If there were a scale of commissions for road-sea consignments, some extra business might come from agents, but so far operators have not felt any pressing need to engender it.
A curious aspect of the traffic side is that loads emanating from the Continent are the prime concern of the British operators. and those travelling from this country are first known about by Continental associates. One would have thought that if a con-many in Birmingham were making a machine for a customer in Hamburg, it would have been the British operators who would be approached in the first instance.
Buying on Reception Basis
However, the general practice seems to be that companies, on both sides, buy on a reception basis, so that hauliers are nearly always asked not to send a consignment, but to feteh it. Therefore, when the British and Continental hauliers get together for a conference to blend their traffic patterns, which might take place monthly, each has a number of movements from, rather than into the others territory, These personal conferences are not the only liaison. Nearly every day there could be an overseas telephone call.
Is there scope for carrying more traffic of a less valuable and special character on the Continental links? Bearing in mind that poal has been taken on the Preston-Lame service, it would seem that the advantages of road transport could be offered to a wider selection of customers other than those in the market for machinery. This question hinges around comparable costs, and the fact has to be faced that low-rated traffics would be hard to win away from traditional services.
There are two possibilities, one a reduction in boat charges and the other a form of classification for traffic. At the moment these are no more than tentative ideas. There are, of course, many arguments against classification. Put crudely, it is the system of charging what the traffic will bear. Even if this is ethically right, adherence to a classification system complicates charging and tends to limit an operator's room for manoeuvre when •he competes against another.
More Business With Free Trade
The future pattern of European trade colours the picture. The Common Market is now coming into existence. British participation, either within the framework of a Free Trade Area or otherwise, is not. It is obvious that should our trade with the Continent be liberalized there will be more business for road-sea transport. But the continuation of existing arrangements is not depressing.
In these days of high specialization, no country can Offer the best of everything in the way of machinery. For example, in a new factory I visited, the works manager showed me five different machines, each from a different country. From this it appears to follow that an industrialist who wants a new machine will always go to the country which produces the right one.
And if the right machine is more expensive than one indigenously produced, because of a tariff, the extra cost can often be worked off in a short time because of the higher efficiency in use. It is a pleasing thought that the British demand for Continental machinery is equalled by Continental for British, if the balance of traffic on road-sea services is an indication in this respect.