Learning from abroad
Page 67
Page 68
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Flexibility is the keynote of transport operations in Norway. Are there lessons here for British road transport executives?
ROAD transport people on holiday may try very hard to "get away from it all" but —short of visiting a remote island with no wheeled transport at all--the observant eye and the critical faculty will be exercised.
A recent holiday in Norway, not of the busman's variety, yielded much of interest to transport managers, whether concerned with freight or passengers.
There can be few countries in the world where such a high proportion of the land area is occupied by mountains and water. In a country 2!, times the area of England and with a population of under 4m people. only I /40th of the land area is cultivated and forests occupy a quarter of the land surface. But far from discouraging road transport the difficult terrain has stimulated development. The high standard of living enjoyed by the Norwegians would be impossible without a highly developed transport industry.
Though some roads in the Oslo and Bergen areas are good, in mountainous areas on tourist routes they are appalling by British standards—though it is extraordinary to find any roads at all in such difficult country. Countless miles of roads (the country has over 54,000km all told) have been built by blasting narrow ledges from mountain sides and by tunnelling where practicable.
Quite an experience
It is quite an experience to drive from bright sunlight into tunnels with no illumination to supplement reflectors let into the unfinished rock walls. Sunglasses are not recommended for this! Some tunnels have been pierced to allow daylight illumination at intervals and coach drivers. I suspect. may be tempted by camera-happy passengers to stop for some spectacular photography. Needless to say, such a practice could have lethal consequences.
Norway is a rapidly developing tourist area. I saw dozens of coaches from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland even Switzerland •and Spain. Some American tour operators have their own establishment of coaches with resident men and women couriers. But I did not sec any British coach tours or, for that matter, any British designed coaches.
Scandinavia has long been recognized as a European leader in the use of mechanical handling equipment. Of the medium-weight lorries operated, at least half are equipped with lorry-mounted cranes. I-11AB were well represented but there were many other types of equipment both hydraulic and mechanical. I noted some lorries with cranes that appeared to have been little used, but the majority of cranes were well maintained.
But that is not to say that lorry cranes are used every day. I saw a lot of hand loading of lorries in docks at Oslo and Bergen. Evidently road transport operators find it advantageous to equip vehicles with cranes for use with the occasional suitable load.
Any road haulier disposed to lament his operating difficulties in Britain could usefully study a large-scale map of Norway. Many roads are closed for several months of the long winter but the authorities take energetic steps to clear "main" roads of snow. I saw more snow ploughs in a fortnight's motoring in Norway than I have seen in a lifetime in Britain. They are to be seen parked in strategic places every few miles. not in ones or twos—often haff a dozen or more. Quite obviously, every suitable vehicle is impressed on the job of snow clearance promptly. Village shops, many of them mini-supermarkets, would not otherwise be kept supplied. Equally important, the national pastime of skiing would be disrupted unduly!
It must be very difficult if not impossible for any Norwegian operator to quote a throughput rate for goods delivery of any sizeable load. There are great variations in bridge strengths and tunnel heights.On some main roads tunnel heights vary from 4 tq 4.8m. but some tunnels in rural areas are as low as 2.8m. There are obvious limitations on wide loads on roads which may narrow to 7 or 8ft—with a 1,000ft drop to discourage the careless driver.
Roads in many areas I passed through sadly needed consolidating. There is, I gather, a shortage of suitable aggregate in the country and many road surfaces were appallingly loose and rutted, with clouds of white dust trailing behind every vehicle. One mining engineer I met said the ideal answer to the road building problem in countries with such severe climatic extremes as Norway was the cutting of massive slices of suitable rock from roadside quarries to form a durable road surface. Any form of artificial road surface which allows moisture to penetrate is inevitably broken up by the thawing ice.
Supply of fuel
In such difficult road conditions the supply of fuel to roadside service stations is a challenge to the petroleum companies. Main-road garages are supplied by conventional tankers on fouror six-wheeled rigid chassis but a lot of fuel is distributed in country areas by platform lorries carrying one or more 500gal tanks. These were often fitted with quick release devices. The tanks are fitted with lifting eyes for crane or gantry loading—not by the ubiquitous forklift trucks which are mostly to be found in towns or port areas.
Large artics or eight-wheeled rigid lorries are not suitable for many Norwegian roads. Artics are used on some TIR operations from Oslo and Bergen but large numbers of single-axle load-carrying trailers with carrying capacity of six tons or more are to be seen towed behind four-wheeled lorries or parked at terminal points. Our C. and U. regulations prevent this type of operation in the UK, though it would be interesting to compare the safety records of countries I which allow this, on roads much more Idifficult than ours. Also noticeable were the number of six-wheeled lorries with retractable rear axles.
The flexibility with which the Norwegian authorities interpret their road transport regulations was evident from the manner in which road construction machinery is moved. I saw a four-wheeled trench digger being towed on its two rear wheels with the -claw" of the digger resting on the flat platform of a normal four-wheeled lorry. And this in the centre of Bergen. with two policemen to observe it!
Smoking by drivers is forbidden in built-up areas in Norway. I saw only one driver disobeying this injunction in 1,000 miles touring—a Bergen taxi-driver. But the risk of being caught is minimal. In a fortnight I saw only four policemen. in Oslo and Bergen. Motorized traffic is left to get on with its job--and this it does very effectively without help or hindrance from the police.
Evening excursion At Voss. an admirable touring centre for the Sogne and Hardanger Fiords, an enterprising local coach operator ran an evening excursion trip to a mountain farm a few miles from the town. The trip was oversubscribed and there were no seats for three passengers. A chair was borrowed from the official tourist information centre and two mini-skirted hbstesses perched on the engine cover beside the driver.
Leaving Voss in daylight the coach proceeded along narrow mountain roads to a footpath leading to the farm, negotiating an ancient wooden bridge in the process. Forty passengers alighted--they included women in high heeled shoes, a very lame man, and an old man of 86. The passengersjollied along by the hostesses, stumbled up a steep and exceedingly rough mountain track to the farm. There, in a lamp and candle-lit barn they were treated to an evening of Folk dancing and community singing in half a dozen languages.
At midnight. the party returned, guided by tiny paraffin lamps to the road, half a mile or more away, to the waiting coach.
The driver members of the party, at least. faced the return trip—most of which skirted fearsome precipices—along a road not more than 10ft wide with some trepidation. One wag smelled the breath of the imperturbable driver to make quite certain it was free of alcohol. And, naturally enough, the party were safely delivered to the departure point at Voss.
Enterprise But I confess to feeling a few odd qualms when, several hundred feet above the lights of Voss, and with a sheer drop below, the driver switched off the interior lights and proceeded to negotiate a series of hairpin bends with the flair brought by much practice. The hostesses clung to each other and to anything within reach and somehow managed to avoid failing on the driver's lap. They were obviously used to the .ride and thought it entirely appropriate to lead community singing during this fearsome descent. I could not help thinking of the reaction of a blunt-speaking British Traffic Commissioner to this example of Norwegian enterprise which, on balance, was thoroughly enjoyed by all participants. It shows what enterprising to'ur operators can do in Norway!
Another fascinating experience to a transport man was a visit to an old house on the Bergen waterfront, now a museum, formerly the residence and depot of a local offshoot of the Hanseatic League. This transport and trading organization vanished long ago though for centuries it was very powerful in Europe. The store rooms and ledgers have survived the centuries.
A tiny office for the local director, complete with flap top desk, could serve today. The windows look out over the quay and inwards to staff within earshot. Only the absence of a telephone made this miniscule room any different from many a road transport "gaffer's" office in this century. The Hanseatic League was organized on highly professional lines and in its time was very influential. It was a monastic body; the Germans who staffed the Norwegian depot were supposed to stay in their own precinct. At the Bergen house-depot a dozen apprentices lived-in sharing narrow bunks with solid wooden doors to keep out the winter cold.
The director of the establishment was more fortunate. In a cupboard, ostensibly for stationery, narrow stairs led to a small cubicle where the Norwegian girl friend could hide when official visitors were around. Perhaps that is why the Hanseatic League collapsed. Think of the jealousy of the apprentices during a long winter!