ALLOWING FOR SNAGS
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3EET CARRYING Solving the Problems
of the Carrier
Rates for Beet in 7-ton and 13ton Loads. Meeting the Special Difficulties of this Class of Haulage and Making Allowance for Them
in the Rates
ALL sugar beet is not, of course, carried in 5-ton loads, Larger vehicles are used by some operators, principally maximum-load four-wheelers, which will carry .about 7 tons of beet, and lorries and trailers, carrying up to 13 tons. The following figures show that there is little advantage in the maximum-load four-wheeler solo compared with the 5-tonner. Its slower speed and the increased time needed for loading and unloading, coupled with its greater cost, are more than sufficient to compensate for the increase in the pay-load.
The lorry and trailer, carrying 13 tons, is a better type, but, unfortunately, this is a cumbersome outfit to handle in country lanes. Moreover, those who cater for the work seldom have vehicles of this type in their possession.
There is no doubt that for the longer hauls, the lorry .and trailer, or the maximum-load six-wheeler or eightwheeler, are the most profitable types. Of the three, the lorry and trailer is the best choice, because of the bulk capacity available, beet being comparatively light in proportion to the bulk.
• Value of Time and Mileage Method. •
There is no need, in discussing the basis of rates for these larger vehicles, to deal with the subject in such detail as I did in connection with the 5-tonners. I showed, in that connection, that in the end, the most satisfactory and practical way of arriving at appropriate figures was to use the time and mileage method, starting with a rate for a one-mile lead and working onwards from that, mile by mile.
For a maximum-load four-wheeler, the standing charges, in a rural area, will approximate to £7 18s. per week, made up as follow : Tax, 28s.; wages, £5 5s. ; garage rent and rates, 4s.; vehicle insurance, 12s.; and interest on first cost, 7s.
The running costs per mile can be taken from The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs, at 6.65d. per mile (on the basis of a 300-mile week, which will rarely be exceeded in this class of work, except on long hauls). On to the sta:nding charges must be added provision for overheads, say LI 7s. per week, and that proportion of profit on the standing charges, say a further R1 15s. per week. The basis for the time charge is thus R11 per week, or 4s. 7d. per hour. Profit must also be added to the running cost, in order to arrive at
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the mileage charge, which should not -be less than 8d. per mile.
It is necessary to allow 2i hours for loading, unloading, and some terminal delays. This time is not in proportion to the load carried, but is only a little longer for the seven tons than for the five. The charge for the time, apart from that spent in travelling, is thus 2i times 4s. 7d., which is us. 6d.
For the first three-miles lead, it is necessary to allow six minutes per mile run, which is 12 minutes, or one-fifth of an hour, per mile lead. (Each mile lead means two miles running.) One-fifth of an hour, at 4s. 7d. per hour, is lid. Then there is the charge for the two miles run, and two miles at 8d. is 1s. 4d. The mileage charge, per mile lead, for the first three miles, is thus 2s. 3d. The total charge for the first mile lend is 13s. 9d., which is 2s. per ton, as near as makes no matter. From that must be deducted, as described in previous articles, 10 per cent, for back loads of pulp, etc., reducing the theoretical rate to 1s. 10d.
Each additional mile lead, up to three miles, involves a further charge, as above, of 2s. 3d. less 10 per cent., which is 2s. Oid., or 3icl. per ton. Beyond the threemiles radius, a better average speed can be made and the additional rate per ton per mile is reduced to 3d.
In the case of 13-ton loads, carried on a lorry and trailer, the following figures apply :-Standing charges : Licences, 36s.; wages, £5 10s. 6d. ; garage rent and rates, 6s.; insurance, 12s., and interest, 10s. The total is ZS 15s. per week.
The running cost per mile, again according to The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs, is 80., eliminating decimals, and the revenue per mile (additional to the time charge) must not be less than 101d.
On to the standing charges add overheads, say, 30s. per week, and profit on the fixed expenditure, 35s. The total is £12 per week, which is equivalent to 5s. per hour.
Taking 3 hours for loading and unloading, that means that the charge to cover the time spent in those two operations must be 17s. 6d. Taking, as in the above example, 12 minutes per mile for the first three miles, the total charge per mile lead, up to that limit, must be is. for the time, and is. 9d. (two miles at 101d, per mile) for the mileage, which is 2s. 9d.
The full charge, for the first mile lead, must thus be £1 Os. 3d., which is nearly is. 7d. per ton, and that, less 10 per cent. as before, equals is. 5d. Each additional mile lead, up to three miles, must be charged at 2s. 9d. less 10 per cent, which is 2s. 6d. (say, 21d. per ton) ; beyond three miles 2d. per ton will suffice.
These rates are set out in full, in the first and second columns of Table II, herewith. If they be compared with the figures in the second column of the first table, published in last week's issue, it will be noted that the rates for a 7-ton load are 1d. per ton more, all the way down the scale. Those for the 13-ton load are less all the way down. In the third and fourth columns of Table II, corrections are made, in the lower scale of mileages, from 1 to 10, to allow for inevitable delays on short leads. That also was explained last week. It is now necessary to take into consideration the fluctuating conditions under which beet haulage is carried on, with a view to deciding to what extent the foregoing theoretical rates must be modified to suit. The conditions I have in mind• were enumerated in a previous article; they are the crop, weather, factory stoppages, congestion in the factory yard, inaccessibility of the beet at the farm, lack of help in loading, convenience or inconvenience of unloading, availability of back loads, and one other, not previously mentioned, namely, the tendency of the farmers to hold up their offers of beet for the factory.
Exact measurements of the effect of these factors is manifestly impossible. To some, I have already given consideration, in my estimates of the time for loading, unloading and terminal delays. Those for which I have not provided are the weather, stoppages at the factory, inaccessibility of the beet and the fluctuation of the loads within the week.
• Finding Alternative Loads. • It should be realized that only occasionally is the haulier able, at short notice, to find alternative loads. In any event, it is the fact that quite a considerable number of the vehicles used for this work is not licensed for any other purpose.
In a good season, with favourable weather conditions, the proportion of time lost may fall to 5 per cent. It is fair to split the difference and make provision, in our schedule of rates, for a loss of 7i per cent.
Stoppages at the factory, due to a variety of causes, such as machinery hold-ups, or a glut of beet in the factory involving stoppage of the Effra, or water-spout unloader, can be roughly assessed as justifying an addition of 2i per cent. to the theoretical rates.
No direct provision can be made for the other untoward conditions, but there are ways in which they can be countered. I propose to deal with these in the next and concluding article, in which I shall set out a practical schedule of rates, incorporating the above additions. S.T.R. (To be concluded./