Roads by-pass Yarmouth but wagons keep rolling
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IVING by car along lightly fticked roads to Great Yar,uth was a pleasure; listening "horror" stories of what the k of motorways means to ivy vehicle transport costs sn't.
/loving to northern Norfolk, at g's Lynn, the picture was dif3nt. While it is 60 miles to the irest motorway, trunk roads 3r good access to the Midds and Yorkshire.
'he port of King's Lynn is upped for a brighter tomorv. The British Transport Docks Ard has invested a lot of ney in it. On an off-day there ieceptively little traffic either road or ship. But, for innce, Dennis Dear, managing 3ctor of Lynn Ferries, told me: )ulage has held up in the resion better than any other t of our business." .
)ver in Great Yarmouth, Rod 3utis, of Transover Ferry Ser3s, reported that his line had t completed a record month trade with Holland — predonantly unaccompanied lers but including a number tractive units. The loads are inly general haulage.
It's incredible,' he said. "We p talking about it but cannot point why it has happened ; month."
; industry then picking up? A. Maudlin, transport manager Joseph's Freight Interne based on an industrial es! at Great Yarmouth, said: orn our figures I would say re is a slight break coming — slight upsurge away from gging our heels."
owever, to deal with King's n first, hauliers in general are uggling on as they are rywhere.
oy Pitcher, of Pitchers Transt, one of half a dozen hauliers the dock, has a fleet reduced some two thirds within und 12 months. "Things are ailised now," he said, "but 'd are no signs of any imvement."
nother transport manager apparently gone home by :h time: no work.
)errick Turner of Star idways, a transport manager 11 years, said that in the past year he had had to put one of his then four heavies off the road. However, besides dock work, predominantly timber from Finland, he is into foodstuffs and this trade has held up much better.
What would help the port is a regular container service with one or two sailings a week. And this is just what the British Transport Docks Board is hoping to attract to King's Lynn, M. G. Fell, assistant dock manager, told me.
King's Lynn docks are situated on the Great Ouse, about two miles inland. The port is, for instance, only 95 miles by road from Coventry. It is used by companies trading with the near-Continent, Baltic and Mediterranean regions. The BTDB claims that it offers a first-class small port service, its compact size allowing a degree of management flexibility seldom possible in larger undertakings.
The docks are well-equipped for dealing with general manufactured goods as well as bulk commodities such as timber, grain, steel, petroleum and fertilizers. The advantages of an extensive ro/ro service to Hamburg is a big bonus. Experience has shown it to be a good focal point for the collection and distribution of goods over a very much wider area than the Midlands from whence comes so much trade.
Outputs achieved by the experienced dock harbour force have been a major factor in the growth of some traffics, like steel, where it is not unusual for a 1,000-tonne cargo to be dealt with in half a day. The port is used by shipping lines like the Washbay Line, which has based its expanding UK/Germany ferry operation there for the past 10 years; the Arghiris Line, with vessels serving Cyprus, Greece, the Lebanon, and Syria; and more recently Umar UK Line with the smallest vessel running a regular monthly service across the Atlantic — to Newfoundland.
The port's frequent links with Germany have resulted in a "land bridge" being established for consignments from North America discharged at ports on the western side of the country. On the imports side, it is the sole import and distribution centre in the UK for Skoda cars and Zetor tractors from Czechoslovakia and for VW spares from Germany. The docks estate is also served directly by rail sidings linked with British Rail exchange sidings.
Recently, a giant grain silo has been brought into operation.
The steel trade is naturally hit by the recession, but the facilities are there for heavy lifts and the steel traffic had increased sixfold in as many years.
However, progress is still being made.
In October last year one gang of King's Lynn dockers discharged 1,981 tonnes of steel plates direct to lorries in 17 hours.
Discharge of the my Tuvana commenced at 7.45am and was completed at 5pm the following day. The rate of discharge was 116 tonnes per hour.
The Tuvana, which had sailed from the Spanish port of Gijon, was discharged in the Bentinck Dock at Berth 17 using the port's new 25-tonne quay crane.
One hundred thousand tonnes of export wheat and barley have been handled at King's Lynn during the first four months of 1981 in a total of 103 vessels — an all-time record.
This compares favourably with the 74,000 tonnes shipped during the same period last year. Total grain exported through the docks in 1980 amounted to 157,000 tonnes.
There are two grain exporters with in-dock facilities at King's Lynn — Bunge & Co Ltd, which' operates a grain silo with a storage capacity of 6,000 tonnes, and Anglia Agricultural Merchants Ltd, which ships via a purpose-built high-speed elevator. Bunge also imports grain. Stevedoring is undertaken by the BTDB.
The 100,000th tonne was loaded on to the Dutch-regis tered my Globewhich arrived or April 30 and sailed with 1,451 tonnes of barley for Antwerp.
Booming grain expor shipments, in fact, 4-lave pro vided a welcome lift.
Export shipments of cereal: and grain last year shot up by nc less than 68 per cent in compari son with figures recorded ir 1979. At 160,400 tonnes, this ex port commodity alone ac counted for almost 21 per cent o the total tonnage of cargc handled.
A significant contribution wa; made by a new portable grair elevator operated by Angliar Agricultural Merchants Ltd. I can handle up to 200 tonnes pe hour.
"This new equipment is ye another string to our bow and i; the latest addition to a numb& of improvements made to oul cargo handling systems in re cent times," said docks managel Bob Owen. King's Lynn, he added, can handle virtually an cargo and any type of vessel ur to 2,000 tonnes dwt.
"Steel is an important cargc for us," he said, "and it is norma for 1,000 tonnes of steel coils tc be discharged in four hours."
The largest ever packagec timber cargo was handled ir quick time in January this yea' from the Hamburg registerec my Maria Graebe. It was shippec from the Finnish port of Yxpila Since timber merchants are cur. rently holding smaller stocks than they would in more buoy. ant times, quick delivery is im. portant."
On average, King's Lynr handles between 70,000 anc 80,000 tonnes of importec timber per year.
Parts of King's Lynn are old: medieval. And those in the transport trade, like other inhabitants, would hate to see the olc buildings damaged. King's Lynr has been connected with the Hanseatic League since the 15th
mtury, when it ranked in third ace among the ports of Engnd. There is some concern -nong hauliers that another love may be made to compel gy to take a tortuous route to e docks. Such a move was deated via public inquiry last mr. One haulier told me that ich a plan, implemented, ould add around £10 a week to e fuel costs of each hgv. Operators who use CM's anal Ferries Guide may be fami)rwith Lynn Ferries. Their anaging director, Dennis Dear, Id me that the line runs "comomise" ships — not purely /r.o or container, but able to tract as large an amount of iried cargo as possible.
Varied cargo ranges from achetes for cutting back the ngle, delivered via Hamburg to anus and Iquitos, to luxury ps for hotels in the Amazon isin, where the Peruvian govnment is pushing the tourist Kle. So the hope is that traffic II become even more varied rer the years.
"It's no good just sitting in an fice waiting for trade and cryg in your beer," said Dennis. "I 3 ve just returned from iltshire via London and Biri ng ha m." He reckons that ng's Lynn provides trade for ound 1,000 lorry movements week plus tankers. Road mmunications are excellent, said, although tourists can use congestion. And the ening of the Swaffham byss, due next month, will slash me journey times.
With its good equipment, mmunications, labour-relans and competitive costs, he -esees a marvellous future for ig's Lynn; without its transrt complex the town would be t just with its medieval builds and its pubs, he said. Nhereas King's Lynn is a DB port, Great Yarmouth has en administered by a statuy public authority, the Port d Haven Commissioners, .ce 1670. It is now the largest poly and offshore base serv1 the gas producing fields in southern sector of the North a.
Ihe shelter offered by the emnked River '(are has been en advantage of since Roman les, and just before the First )rld War more than one thouid drifters landed 21/2m hun:dweight of fish in a year. In Sixties, the dramatic decline herring fishing hit the port, as the last drifters were leav) the first seismic survey Yess were calling in.
The port has five miles of quay 3dings, is only 100 miles from
Holland, and it, too, has a good reputation for labour relations. Revenue from its new role as an offshore base was spent on improvements, and a ro/ro service was attracted to the port.
The Norfolk Line now runs three vessels including the Yarmouth registered Duke of Norfolk, on its Scheveningen (The Hague) ro/ro service. In addition, the Dutch connection has been strengthened by another ro/ro service, that of Transover Ferry Services, to Harlingen in Friesland. And this line has expansion plans up its sleeve.
The minimal rise and fall of tide of only 6ft means that the port is normally open to ships in all extremes of weather for 24 hours a day. And the transport complex is further strengthened by Norwich Airport and a heliport.
The Great Yarmouth Warehousing Company provides depots, offices and storage for many firms. Its double-fronted warehouse is a hanger transported from Tibbenham Airfield and re-erected on the waterside. Regular callers include the Gulf Line to the Eastern Mediterranean and West Africa, and the Euro-Med to North Africa.
The Norfolk Line is a Unilever subsidiary, and Unilever has expanded its Birds Eye factory into the town's largest single employer. Other large firms include ITT Components, Smiths Food Group, McAlpine Humberook, McDermott, and Brown and Root.
Labour relations, as stated, are good; the working population is estimated at 45,000. And in 1979 average weekly earnings in Nor
folk were £9 less than the national average.
An 89-page "discussion document" issued in March has been accepted by the borough council as the basis for consultation, and this report highlights the disappointing prospects for roads. Many plans for improving trunk roads are not programmed by the Government till the midEighties, it says; money for major road links could come from the EEC only for "assisted areas" — thus excluding Yarmouth.
Yarmouth, it claims, "is perhaps the worst served in terms of road communications of any port between the Humber and the Thames.
"Unless these road links are improved, the growth of the port could be stifled with economic repercussions on both the town and the region. If the port of Yarmouth is to fulfil its potential, it is vital that communications are improved as quickly as possible."
Only a minimal amount of freight is carried to and from the town by rail, it says, and there is concern that cut-backs in passenger services may lead to the withdrawal of all services.
Last year, Yarmouth's total tonnage was 1,407,437 — 52.4 per cent of that ro/ro. Firms are competing to acquire sites for trailer parking and therefore all riverside-frontage land should be used for port-related activity, it argues.
This concern with roads was reflected by Chris Taylor, who runs the trailer operations for Frans Maas (UK) Ltd, shippers and forwarders. "It's diabolical," he said. "You have to drive Cambridge before you get oi decent motorway."
Frans Maas operat worldwide and has a dozen pots in Britain. Seventy trailers are operated from `I' mouth, where business is saic be extremely busy consider that there is a recession.
A. J. Maudlin, transport rn. ager for Joseph's Freight In national, told me Yarmouth rc freight rates have to reflect 1 fact that a lorry has to be drib four to five hours befo reaching a decent road; half 1 driving day could be occupi reaching the Al while haulierE the West of England could get Scotland within their eig hours. Keeping within lec speeds, a Yarmouth vehic takes 13/14 hours to get to Ab deen.
Many East Anglian road s faces, too, are poor, he said. had watched empty beer bott rocketing out of crates on a lor The driver should, of cour have checked his load, but prc ably was a stranger who h never before experienced su road surfaces, he added. As ex-coach driver he found it ri culous that coaches are allow to travel at the same speeds cars on motorways when t drivers are responsible for m sengers' lives, while lorries E so restricted.
"Bad roads are holding bz the development of Yarmoutl' he said. He contrasted the po tion here with that in Americ where, he said, the police be over backwards to assist drivE on "hot shot" oil deliveries; hE legislation holds back rath than helps transport. "The EE Coast rises or falls by the oil i dustry," he added.
Mr Maudlin helps out on t driving side, particularly on t Continent. While his compa does not at the moment run h but sub-contracts, it is watchii for the recession to end befc moving up. "The cargo is ye tempting," he said, "and t Roadtrain is nice; we need ft tory-finished sleeper-cabs f the Continent."
Branching into warehousii 18 months ago had filled a bu: ness gap, caused by the recE sion, very nicely, he said.
To sum up, there should be growing future for road trar port in Norfolk. The Yarmou Job Centre reports: "The loc labour force has proved to I extremely adaptable ... this h been helped by the willingne of local people to learn ne skills and their conscientiou ness."