Trailer and container leasing
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WHAT is a little surprising in the field of railer and container rentals and leasing is hat the truck rental specialists have shied way from this business. Although many of hese firms now, offer maximum-capacity ractive units, She trailer and container side as developed in recent years as quite apart rom the main stream of the rental idustry.
These specialist firms put forward two rasic reasons for this situation. First, they ay, most customers who want to hire ractive units have their own trailers; econd, the specialists either have not ufficient space available—or have it and on't wish to use it--for parking emi-trailers which may be up to 40ft long. Two of the major operators in the trailers ental field have vested interests. Rentco .lationwide Ltd is a member of the Crane ruehauf Group and -York Trailer Rentals Ad is an offshoot from the York Trailer ompany. As major manufacturers they aturally see rental as a further extension of teir marketing policies; namely, service to he customer. However, they have not entured very far into the container rentals iusiness.
The reason for the increasing demand for railer hire cannot be laid solely at the door f firms seeking "spot hire to cover for reakdowns". It is apparent that many ,perators are hiring instead of buying milers in order to cover peaks in trading ctivity, or to use them for long Continental ips and so avoid the loss of one of their wn trailers for days on end. Some ompanies are hiring on an almost perianent basis.
In the latter case the operator is verging n contract hire which is far different from
renting. However, Rentco. for example. has some long-term customers and calls in trailers for regular maintenance while providing replacements. "Anything less than this would be an inferior rental agreement"-, Mr Roland Jarvis, of Crane Fruehauf. told me.
It is unlikely that in the long term a customer would want a trailer in Rentco livery hitched to a tractive unit in his own livery. For this reason, and others, the more general rental periods are for a day, a week, or one month.
It is possible to obtain from Rentco, for instance, a 33ft tandem-axle skeletal trailer for £4 per day or £19 per week. The weekly charge drops to £18 if the hire period is a month, or £16 over 6 months, and £15 over 12 months, with no extra charges. The respective prices for a 33ft tandem-axle dry-freight van are £5.50, £29, £27, £25 and £23.
A wide range of other trailer types is offered: 23ft skeletals, 401t platform skeletals, 28ft flat platform single-axle units, 28ft and 39ft vans, and TIR tilt trailers; later on, refrigerated vans will be available. TIR trailers incur an additional mileage charge above 150 miles per day but the company usually finds that the free mileage is adequate for most hirers.
Trailers can be picked up at a number of depots spread across the country and service or help can, if it is needed, be obtained from any CF service depot.
Rentco is by no means unique either in its services or the types of trailer offered; there are many others who can make similar claims. Some are also trailer repair specialists, such as Trailer Hire and Repair Ltd, of South East London. This company. in addition to offering standard trailers, also advertises low-loaders and pole trailers. It will also carry out any type of trailer repair and conversion.
Quite a similar situation has arisen in the container field, where a large number of companies offer basically similar services and similar ranges of equipment. Price, and the availability of a unit near at hand when it is required, is usually the deciding factor from the user's point of view. For this reason the tendency seems to have been for containers to be based at agents' depots throughout the country; very often haulage contractors are agents for one or more rental companies and carry stocks ready for immediate use.
Winn International Containers Ltd, of Barking, follows this pattern but also has a large number of depots and agents on the Continent and so can offer the user a favourable "one-way" service. Repair facilities are provided to help keep containers on the move and a wide range of types is available, all complying with Lloyd's Register specifications. Additional equipment such as Joloda tracking and shelving is available if required. Rental can be for short term or long term on a leasing contract.
There is no doubt that with so many companies in the trailer and container rental fields all offering basically similar services prices must be competitive—and the cornpetition for customers is fierce. For the user this means a wide choice and an opportunity to get exactly what he wants.