Take a letter, Inter City
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• As part of a trial to see whether road transport can compete effectively with air freight, Hythe, Kent-based Inter City Trucks is now carrying all Post Office air mail letters between London and Paris in a deal worth £250,000.
To service the contract, which operates six days a week, Inter City is using two new box-bodied Mercedes 1617 rigids, plus one in reserve, on the outward nonstop journey from London to Paris.
On the return leg, carrying mail for FYI, the French post office, the trucks stop off at Lille to pick up extra parcels before making final deliveries in Dover and London.
French haulier Chavalan et Duc is also operating a reverse France/UK service alongside Inter City.
To maintain maximum flexibility operating on tight schedules, Inter City is currently using both Townsend Thoresen and Sealink ferry crossings, as well as the Hoverspeed hovercraft link. According to Inter City's sales administrator John Bisi, all three carriers are performing equally well.
Despite the recent industrial action by HM Customs, Bisi reports that no substantial delays have occured due to Inter City's policy of operating with different ferry crossings and ports.
Although road transport is only being used for French air mail letters orginating from London Post Offices, if the Inter City trial proves successful, Bisi says there could be further scope for increasing the amount of air mail being carried by road to other European countries.