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Fewer Delays at Leith

24th February 1961
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Page 71, 24th February 1961 — Fewer Delays at Leith
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Keywords : Leith, Crane

Movement of Goods at Leith Docks Depends on Road Transport. Almost All Hold-ups Have Been Eliminated by G. Duncan Jewell

INLIKE most ports, the movement of goods into and out of Leith )ocks depends mainly on road transiort, 80 per cent. of the trade being arried by independent hauliers and 3ritish Road Services. Rail movement leaned with the slump in exports rom the Lothians coalfield, and is nainly confined to the carriage of coal ind scrap.

Situated in the sheltered estuary of he Firth of Forth, the port consists )f an outer and inner harbour, six :nclosed docks, six dry-docks and a tew Western Harbour of 203 acres, which is now in course of developnent. Under Parliamentary powers ;ranted in 1959, the Dock Commission tre steadily reclaiming 50 acres of and from the sea, in this area for ndustrial use.

Close inter-working has developed )etween road and sea transport, and 7egular sailings and arrivals by many )f the shipping lines using the, port ielps traffic flow, almost eliminating he normal delays associated with port working.

The Dock Commission have 7ecently granted sites in the Western Harbour area to certain hauliers, with permission to build for garage and ;torage purposes. They have further ..ricouraged road transport by improvtig access to the quays and general lock area by removing capstans and ather obstacles. Peter Saddler and Co., Ltd, of Leith, master stevedores, general warehousekeepers and •cement distributors, and their subsidiary haulage companies, in association with 0:-A. Morrison and Co. (Leith), Ltd.,

customs clearance, shipping and forwarding agents, provide a complete service for importers and exporters through the port.

Saddlers Transport, Ltd., operate 43 vehicles and 24 articulated trailers on A and B licence. Their pale grey and maroon livery is a familiar sight on the docks, and in conjunction with Forth Haulage Co., Ltd., taken over by the parent company in March, 1960, with

25 vehicles of 8 tons and upwards, they provide daily services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and the West; Edinburgh to Fife; and Edinburgh to Dundee. Trunk services operate from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. There are depots at Glasgow and Liverpool.

In addition, local services are run to Edinburgh. in conjunction with another associated company, Wm. Swan (Contractors); Ltd., who haye 12 vehicles including tippers, on this work. The main fleet is made up of modern vehicles, mostly of Albion, E.R.F. and Foden make, and operate from Tower Street, Leith.

Started by the late Peter Saddler, a native of Leith, during the first world war, the company grew with the port. Horse-drawn vehicles were originally used for the dock traffic, but it was not long before stevedoring was added to the service provided and they purchased their first motor vehicle, a chain-driven Albion. By 1939, 24 motor vehicles were in operation in addition to horses. Although the horses have long since disappeared, the premises at Constitution Street, where they were originally stabled, are still used by Saddlers.

The company was acquired by the present chairman and managing director, Mr. G. D. Dow, in 1945, but the transport side was nationalized in 1949. When they came back into haulage in 1954, it was thought prudent to operate the transport as a separate undertaking and Saddlers Transport, Ltd., was formed.

One of the main traffics with which Saddlers are connected, as agents for the Tunnel Portland Cement Co., Ltd., is imported cement. A 1,000-ton cement silo has been built at the northeast end of Edinburgh Dock, to accommodate bulk cargoes, and the cement arrives in 700-ton shipments.

Grain in Bulk With the increasing importance of Leith as a grain discharging port, it is worthy of note that the Commissioner's special equipment for the handling of bulk grain includes two warehouses situated at the Imperial and Edinburgh Docks which are capable of storing 51,000 tons. Grain discharge is effected by suction plant and it is then transported by belt conveyor to the modern elevators and warehouses, the plant at the Imperial Dock being able to discharge 360 tons of grain per vessel per hour, all automatically weighed. The silos are equipped with temperature recording apparatus, which shows the grain temperature at any depth in the storage bins and enables a " hot-spot " to be detected and dealt with.

As the occasion demands, transit sheds with Stelcon unit supports are used as bulk storage when the warehouses are filled to capacity and this gives the port, including the Rank's mill at the Western Harbour, a total storage capacity of over 80,000 tons.

Haulage of Grain Russell of Bathgate, Ltd., are responsible for a large amount of grain haulage, and other well-known Scottish hauliers who carry considerable amounts of the dock traffic include J. and A. Smith of Madiston, Ltd., and Wm. Dobson (Edinburgh), Ltd.

One of the most important projects within the docks was the construction in 1957 of a fertilizer factory by Scottish Agricultural Industries, Ltd., on the reclaimed ground north of the Edinburgh Dock. Raw materials are discharged at the Imperial Dock by 7+-ton grabbing cranes and transferred by conveyor direct to the factory. This traffic in the past year has shown an encouraging increase. A few months ago, Fisons Fertilizers, Ltd., leased ground at the Imperial Dock for the construction of a store, which will become the main distribution depot in Scotland for their products.

The whole dock area is liberally equipped with cranes, ranging from 11-tons to 120-tons capacity, and in many cases discharging and loading is direct to and from road vehicles. All berths have shed accommodation and are road and rail connected, being equipped with electric trolleys, forklift trucks, and mobile cranes.

Between 1956 and 1959, imports of flour, grain and meal rose from 358,560 tons to 537,959 tons; fertilizers from 60,730 tons to 183,446 tons; and timber from 51,284 tons to 68,575 tons During the same period, the principr export of coal cargoes dropped fron 272,368 tons to 34,806 tons, an bunker coal from 54,885 tons t( 18,965 tons. Coal exports abou doubled the 1959 figure in 1960, bu bunkers showed a further decline. -A one time 14m. ton of cargo coal wa exported from Leith in a single yea' and over 400,000 tons of bunke coal.

One drawback road hauliers have ti face in carrying out of Leith, which i not shared by rail, is the lack of al adequate road bridge across the Fort! Estuary at Queensferry. At present i involves either long delays at the con gested ferry crossing or an expensivi diversion by Kincardine bridge, for al north-bound traffic. However, a nev Forth Bridge is now under construe tion and is expected to be complete( and ready for operation in 1963.


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