Hauliers and the Grim Menace inadequate Maintenance
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NJAN Y haulage businesses are being IViconducted on a relatively profitable basis—on paper. But in a section of the Liverpool long-distance haulage business there is an uneasy feeling that the present prosperity will be illusory unless it be studied in relation to stern facts.
There has been a heavy run of traffic, rates are about 20 per cent, above preWar figures and everything points to • loads continuing to exceed the capacity of available vehicles. On the other hand, nearly all operating expenses are up, except actual expenditure on maintenance. That situation contains a grim warning. Accountancy systems should take cognizance of the presentday conditions of working and especially the effect on depreciation figures, capital costs of new vehicles, the high values placed on good used machines and the shrinkage in the price of unusable vehicles owing to the difficulty in obtaining spares.
Here is the comment of a haulier interested in a fleet of .14 heavy vehicles. He said "On examining our records I was astonished to find that in 2,200 vehicle working days there had been a loss of 750 days owing to (1) the spare-parts position, (2) the shortage of skilled driving and maintenance personnel. That loss of onethird of our working days is a serious matter. It is a loss which must be met from our bigger revenue.
" One machine sustained a broken crankshaft, last July. It is impossible to replace it. The maker has no stocks and no spare engines are available. That unit is immobilized indefinitely. This lorry in 1939 condition, if serviceable, would be worth £2,500. Unusable, as it now is, its value is—what? Its normal earning capacity was per day.
" Our earnings must be sufficient to cover costly machines being knocked out, So do not be deluded by healthy looking monthly balances on trading account. Think of contingent losses and remember that when the war is over and we strike a balance-sheet we shall have to value our machines under an entirely new set of conditions."