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To accompany or not to accompany?

23rd August 1980, Page 29
23rd August 1980
Page 29
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Page 29, 23rd August 1980 — To accompany or not to accompany?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

NOTHING sparks off the wanderlust in me more than the sight of an artic bearing Continental lettering heading towards one of the ports. Once off the ferry on the other side the autoroutes, autostradas and autobahns of Europe await the driver.

But appearances can be deceptive.' Just because the vehicle is Continental-bound it doesn't necessarily mean the driver is. It could well be unaccompanied traffic. The driver will drop the outgoing trailer at the port and return with one that has just arrived in this country. The outgoing trailer will be loaded on the ferry by the shipping line, off-loaded at the other end where another foreignbased tractive unit will take over for the Continental leg.

In principle, this certainly seems logical. But how do the economics and practicalities of unaccompanied trailer traffic compare with accompanied operations?

The main difference between accompanied and unaccompanied services as far as the consignor is concerned is speed of transit. Where the trailer is accompanied the complete unit/trailer combination will arrive at the port, go 'onto the ferry without much delay, and should be on the road the other side shortly after docking. SG, in total, delays are minimal.

For unaccompanied trailers there will be more waiting, depending on which ports are involved and what time of day they arrive. To get some sort of comparison I visited Dover, which is Europe's largest mit.° don — almost 4500 ferry arrivals and departures. were operated there in June alone.

Unaccompanied trailers for export are taken to the export freight park in the Eastern Docks, Their average length of 3tay here is roughly 12-15 lours before one of the appropriate ferry lines' dock shunters :omes and hitches jt up.

The shunters (or "tuggies3s they are known) are specialsed units with a hydraulically aised fifth-wheel that lifts the rvhole front of the trailer off the

ground without the need to raise the landing legs. The whole coupling-up, including connecting the air lines, takes under a minute.

The tuggie then takes the trailer onto the ferry. Loading is so much quicker these days with two-deck .simultaneous embarkation. The two newest berths at Dover • even have two-lane double-deck loading enabling four vehicles to drive onto the ferry at once, with a separate entrance for foot, passengers.

Once at the other side, the unloading process is Similar — accompanied vehicles drive off under their own 'power while the unaccompanied trailers are taken off by the tuggies.

It is at this stage that the main time difference occurs between accompanied and unaccompanied traffic. The accompanied trailer will be on the road very quickly (if the customs formalities, are straightforward), whereas the unaccompanied

trailer wi.II go into the port's import freight park and await collection. by the company's agent providing the foreign traction.

Down at Dover the average wait in the import park is 1.7 days. While being a lot slower than accompanied trailer traffic, this is far quicker than it used to be. — .eight years ago the average wait was five days.

But a shortage of long-term standing space meant that the Dover Harbour Board could not allow this sort of time to.elapse before a trailer was collected and so had to introduce rather steep demurrage rates to discourage. it.

Since then, the space available at Dover Eastern Docks has grown thanks to extensive land reclaimation of the harbour and demurrage rates which are now less punitive. The first 48 hours are free (72 hours over weekends) and demurrage starts at £.10 per day for the first two days after this.

The unaccompanied trailers are usually left in the import park because the haulier is waiting until he has another outgoing trailer to take down to Dover, therefore achieving twoway loading.

The Harbour Board calculates that the average number of unaccompanied trailers in the import park is 174, substantially higher than the 'average number in the export 'park waiting to be loaded on ferries.

Combining this with the fact that the average stay in the import park waiting to be col lected is roughly three times as long as the wait to be loaded.

on the ferry shows that unaccompanied trailers lose out to accompanied trailer most at the port of arrival.

The effect of this time loss will vary according to the ferry route concerned. For instance on a short sea crossing (such as the Channel which is now down to approximately an hour) the wait at the port of arrival is a very high proportion of the total journey time.

But on a longer sea crossing (such as the 14-hour Hull /., Rotterdam route) the waiting time is obviously a far lower proportion of the total transit time and so less of a disadvantage..

So, theoretically at least, as the sea crossing becomes longer the relative attractiveness of un accompanied services should increase. And in addition to this, the savings and advantages that unaccompanied services can provide should grow as the sea journey gets longer.

For instance, on the short Channel crossings the fact that the driver and tractive unit are not productive while on the ferry is not a great loss — it will only be for an hour or so.

-But on the longer crossings the cost of paying a driver and the loss of productivity of the unit is more significant and so the unaccompanied trailer be comes a rather more attractive proposition. The unit can be doing another day's work in the UK instead of sitting on the The proportions of accompanied and unaccompanied trailers on some of the ferry routes to and from Britain reflect these comparative adVantages. On the shortest Channel crossings,, unaccompanied trailers make up on average less than one fifth of the total ro/ro freight traffic.

On the slightly longer PooleCherbourg route (a five-hour sea crossing) about a quarter of the traffic is unaccompanied and Truckline, the ferry company which operates this route says this figure is tending to rise.

And on the 14-hour HullRotterdam crossing operated by North Sea Ferries unaccompanied traffic predominates, accounting for about two-thirds of freight ro/ ro traffic.

Generally, if the hauJage industry is busy, then tractive units are in demand and so unaccompanied traffic increases.

Naturally, the ferry lines work the rates out differently for the two types of traffic. An accompanied artic will usually be three metres lorfger than an unaccompanied trailer (15 metres compared with 12 metres in most cases)--because the tractive unit is also being carried and so fewer accompanied trailers can be carried in the same space.

But on the other hand, the accompanied trailer drives on and off the ferry under its own power, whereas the ferry line will incur the cost of providing the traction to load and unload unaccompanied trailers.

The ferry .lines differentiate the rates in two main ways. They either have a different rate per metre for unaccompanied trailers or use a sliding rate scale that gets cheaper per. metre for the longer lengths. (therefore

effectively giving accompanied trailers a lower rate per metre).

In the main, the ferry rates for the two types of trailer traffic work out quite closely, although the overall cheaper type tends to -be the one that a particular port and line concentrates on.

For example, unaccompanied trailers may have ten per cent lower ferry costs on the longer crossings: while ferry costs for accompanied trailers may be ten per cent lower on the short crossings.

So much for the ferry charges. But what else will influence the final comparative costs that a consignor will have to pay for using the two types of service?

The unaccompanied trailer will incur no other costs while on the ferry over and above the actual ferry charges. But the accompanied trailer has a driver who must be paid while on the ferry and a tractive unit that must have its capital cost acCounted for.. And it is this cost element that means the accompanied service will usually cost the consignor more.

As well as getting a faster service with accompanied traffic, another benefit advertised is the added security that the presence of a driVer offers, plus his ability to sort out any problems that may crop up.

But to be fair to unaccompanied services, the security at Dever is pretty comprehensive and 'really there should be no need to worry while the unaccompanied trailet is waiting at the port.

The unaccompanied service operator could also point out that it is beneficial to have thg traction on the foreign stage of the journey provided by a foreign-based agent—he's on his home ground.

There is in fact one aspect in which an unaccompanied service could even gain a few hours over the accompanied trailer. Once the unaccompanied trailer is hooked up to the foreign traction at the port of arrival, a full eight hours of driving is allowed.

But the accompanied trailer will be restricted because the time spent on the ferry and-unloading at the port will have eaten into the driver's duty hours.

So while the accompanied service driver stops to take his legal rest, the unaccompanied service trailer could be catchin.g up.

So, for the ,thoroughly confused manufacturer with some goods to export by road, should he choose an accoMPanied or unaccompanied groupage service? It's impossible to generalise and say one type or the

other, but he should bear in mind these basics.

First, there are more accompanied services to choose from. This is due to the fact that it is an easier operation to set up — the haulier operates independently, whereas the unaccompanied service will need reciprocal cooperation with a foreign agent to provide the Continental traction..

Less .capital is also required — the .unaccompanied service ideally should have a base (or use of one) near to both ports to make collection as quick as possible.

If low cost is uppermost, then the. unaccompanied service should be most competitive. But if speed is more important the accompanied service should have the edge.

'Obviously, the comparative cost/speed balance will depend on the individual route, but as a rough .guide it might pay to remember that, theoretically at least, the long sea crossings 'favour unaccompanied services while the short crossings make accompanied services more viable.

Using a good communication system with the Continental base, journeys to and from the ports to pick up waiting imported trailers should be fast and frequent, thus reducing the unaccompanied trailer's main drawback — its long stay in the import freight park.

Like many things, the final, -choice between accompanied and unaccompanied services will usually boil down to "You pays your money and you takes your choice.'

• Pictures by Dick Ross

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People: Dick Ross
Locations: Rotterdam

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