Beet Hauliers to be Assisted
Page 41
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By
S. T. R.
" VERY hour a haulage contrac Ltor's vehicle stands at a factory, waiting to load or unload, means a loss of about 4s. to its owner. Sooner or later that sum has to be paid by the beet-sugar industry."
The foregoing was, in effect, what Mr. J. N. Mowbray, one of the execu
tive directors of the British Sugar Corporation, Ltd., said -to me in the course
of an informal meeting at Inveresk House, Stiand, London, W.C.1, the headquarters of that corporation. There were present also Mr. E. W. James, manager of the Allscott factory and consultant at headquarters on many agricultural matters, and Mr. G. F. N. Battle; who is assistant to Mr. Mowbray.
The occasion was a discussion of certain criticisms by Mr. James, acting on
behalf of the corporation, levelled at the two articles which I wrote and were published in the issues of The Commercial Motor dated March 5 and April 2,
It appears that a great deal of attention is being paid to the matter of facilitating road haulage of beet. Mr.
Mowbray is adopting in this matter an attitude based on the principle, so far as I can gather, that the factory should, in the first instance, be assumed to be the offending party, and that the
modus operandi of the haulier in presenting his loads of beet at the -factory has been influenced by his cumulative experience in the past.
"Once Bitten? . . ."
If hauliers collect in a queue early in the morning, long before the gates open, Mr. Mowbray opines that " the factory has, on some occasions in the past, shut down on deliveries in the afternoon, causing these hauliers to make futile journeys. To avoid that wastage they form these queues in the early morning, so as to ensure acceptance of their loads before the factory closes."
If hauliers concentrate on the early part of the week, trying to get the maximum loads into the factory on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, thus causing undue congestion on those days . . . it indicates that there have been times when the factory has refused loads towards the end of the week,' says Mr, Mowbray, " and these hauliers are trying to avoid being turned away again after the same manner."
That is his attitude. I gather that the corporation is determined to eliminate any existing defect in the factory organization, especially in so far as it causes these delays to hauliers' vehicles. As an outcome, Mr. James, accompanied by Mr. Battle, toured the factories during the campaign which has just closed, making personal investigation of the conditions at each.
One result of their labours will, it is expected, be a review of the permit system, in order to embody the best points of the several methods which are at present in use.
In the course of their investigations, which, I gather, were extremely thorough, Mr. James and Mr. Battle made some interesting discoveries. One of their methods was to inquire of hauliers in the factory yards the extent of the work done during that day. They found that many of the operators were able to cover considerable mileages per day and to bring in quite large tonnages.
150 Miles Daily with Beet.
One case quoted was that in which the vehicle had travelled 150 miles per day over a 15-mile route, carrying 4-5 tons of beet per lead, That work, as everyone must agree, represents a considerable earning capacity, even at the rates for beet haulage now prevailing.
There is one kind of queue of lorries that occurs at beet factories, for which the corporation has no sympathy. That is the file which tends to form near the end of each month for the collection of pulp from the factories for delivery to farmers. I am particularly asked to direct the attention of hauliers to this matter, as something which they should try to avoid.
Pulp is a return load. • It is available at the factories practically throughout the campaign. There is a scheme in force, under which farmers who take delivery of pulp during October receive a rebate of 5s. per ton on the price. Those who take delivery during November receive a rebate ofi2s. 6d, Per ton.
Neglect that Causes Delay.
What happens in practice is that hauliers neglect to collect the pulp until near the end of the month, when the farmer, in a panic at the possibility of losing the rebate, insists on its collection. The result is that all those hauliers who have pulp to carry, try to obtain it in a few days, instead of spreading the delivery over the whole of the month. That is an avoidable cause of delay and congestion.
In the two articles mentioned above, I referred, among many other things, to three matters in particular: (1} Negotiations which I stated had been going on between A.R.O. and the corporation, whereby the Association and some other hauliers would combine to take over the whole of the haulage of sugar beet at agreed rates: (2) A plan for reorganizing the collection of beet, so that each factory would be allotted specific areas from which it would draw its supplies; (3) I discussed and criticized, to some extent, the arrangements for the acceptance of beet by road at the Allscott factory.
It appears that the negotiations by A.R.O. had not reached the stage of being presented to the British Sugar Corporation, Ltd.; they actually took place between A.R.O. and the National Farmers Union. It was the N.F.V., I gather that took the attitude that consideration of the tender should be " held over until the 1938 campaign."
It seems that the reorganization of beet collection is purely local to Bardney and Kelham. It has become advisable there because of a tendency to starve. Kelliam of beet and some control over the Sources from which supplies shall be drawn seems to he desirable. In practiCe, the agent who is negotiating for crops to -be grown for the Kelham factory is likely to agree not to go east of a certain line, whilst the agent from Bardney will refrain from going west of the same line.
So far as the .arrangements at Allscott are concerned, Mr. James explaiped that in the 1933-1934 season, which was the time of my visit, beet deliveries reached a total, of 157,000 tons, which, although exceeded in the following year, was, up to that time, the largest quantity received in any campaign. Under the more normal cropping conditions now prevailing, the quantity of beet to be delivered will approximate to 120,000 tons, Better Storage and Handling.
I am informed that, since the time of my visit, much-improved storage and handling facilities have been provided. In the peak campaign of 19341935, when 184,000 tons of beet were received at the factory, over 30,000 tons were actually stored on the dumps until the end of the campaign.
Moreover, I am assured that at no time in recent years, including that of my visit, has the reception capacity of the Allscott factory been solely dependent upon the rate of daily shcing. Besides the Ella water unloading plant, which discharges loads at the rate of about a ton per minute, the two hoppers into which 10 lorries can tip their loads simultaneously, are kept constantly in operation.
Any surplus of beet not immediately required in the factory is mechanically conveyed to the dumps, from where it can be expeditiously reclaimed during the night or at week-ends, when road traffic has ceased.