HAULAGE Th THE U.S.A.
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ABULLETIN issued recently by the U.S.A. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, reports the results of a survey of intercity freight transport by road, conducted by hankers'. The principal objects of the investigation were to secure available data on the motorequipment in use, particularly as to types and weights of vehicles; the radius of haul, and the costs of operation.
Information was obtained through personal interviews with 217 haulage concerns in 41 States and the District of Columbia, but comprehensive figures on operating costs were scarce, only 122 concerns supplying the data in sufficient detail to permit of statistical analysis. The inadequacy of accounts and records for the industry as a whole are attributed to numerous circumstances, but its rapid growth, the large proportion of small-scale operations, and unstable competitive conditions are probably the most important.
Equipment and methods have been changing -rapidly, there is little accumulated experience for guidance, and each operator has had to work out almost alone the solution of his own particular problems. Although there is apparent some tendency towards consolidation and large-scale operation, the haulage industry is still predominatingly one of small fleets and individual management. Scientific accounting is the exception rather than the rule, direct personal familiarity with the business taking the place, however inadequately, of elaborate records.
A Preponderance of Common Carriers.
It WftS usually the better-known operators who were interviewed, and reports were made only ou those who were able to supply some details as to costs of operation. The reports show a preponderance of common carriers in States where certificates of convenience and necessity are required. This is due, in part, to the fact that the names and addresses of certificated carriers are on public file, and they are usually required to maintain records in a prescribed form and to make period reports. In certain other States, however, the data show a disproportionate number of contract carriers (independent hauliers). This is usually the case where there is no-common-carrier legislation and operators are not compelled to assume the legal status of common carriers, although they cater for the general public.
Of the 217 operators included in the survey, 103 reported only a common-carrier business, 41 only independent hauling, and 73 both.
Specialized Body and Chassis Designs.
The variety of equipment is indicative of a marked specialization of chassis and body design for•particular types of haulage service. The most obvious are those arising directly from the nature of the commodity hauled. Tank vehicles and trailers, for example, are designed for petrol, oil and other liquids; for perishables in hot climates, refrigerator bodies are becoming increasingly common, whilst household goods are moved in closed, weatherproof vans frequently having sleeping accommodation for the driver or drivers on long trips.
Tipping bodies of special types are utilized in the handling of coal, coke and certain building materials, whilst armonred vans have been specially designed for the transport of silk and other commodities of high value in concentrated bulk. For loading or hoisting safes, machinery and other heavy freight, lorries are not infrequently equipped with power winches or cranes. Exceptional loads, usually moved over the highways only under permit, are carried on low flat trailers on multiple wheels for loads of 25 tons or more.
By far the greater number of lorries and trailers, however, must be described as being in the general-purpose class and reasonably well adapted to miscellaneous haulage: They 126
range from the light express truck of 10-wt. capacity to tho tractor-trailer and trailer combinations capable of carrying about 40 tons on 30 low-pressure tyres, but this heaviest combination is no longer in use, not because of excess wheel or axle loads, or illegal dimensions, but because the State in which it was registered DOW sets a maximum gross load of 30 tons for any combination of vehicles, and the load can be more., efficiently handled by an ordinary sixwheeled lorry hauling a six-wheeled trailer.
The percentages are as follow :---Light •(10 cwt. to 25 cwt.), 10 per cent.; medium (30 cwt to 3 tons), 57.3 per cent.; heavy (3i tons and over), 32.7 per cent.
There i.e some evidence that the larger vehicles are mare usual in those sections where the principal cities and towns have been linked with paved highways.
That the licence or registration fees assessed against lorries influence the choice of capacity seems to be demonstrated by the fact that in the 30 States in which the fees are based on rated or actual capacity, the average load is 2.3 tons, whereas for all other States the average is 3.1 tons.
The 21-tonner Favoured for Inter-city Work.
The 2i-ton vehicle is most favoured for inter-city commercial haulage, and of a total of 2,826 for which capacity information was supplied, 510 were in this class, but, actually, these vehicles handle large overloads.
The evident tendency towards concentration of gross loads of between 6i tons and 11 tons does not necessarily indicate that lorries within this range are the most efficient for the work they are doing, since the tendency is probably controlled, to a considerable degree, by the prevailing legal-load limits for four-wheeled vehicles.
Loading in excess of the maker's rated capacity was found to be very general, especially on the medium-capacity vehicles. The largest lorries were apparently loaded to something below capacity, again due to legal limitations on gross weight. Operation of lorries of greater capacity than was utilized was, in some instances, explained by the fact that these vehicles pulled trailers, and it was necessary to use large tyres to provide sufficient motive power, regardless of whether or not they carried full loads on their own wheels.
300 per cent. Overloading.
Usual loads were reported in rare instances as being as high as three times the rated capacity ; normally, however, the excess was something under 125 per cent. Approximately a quarter of all the vehicles, and more than one-third of the medium-capacity types were reported as carrying 100125 per cent. above capacity, whilst nearly two-thirds of the heavy lorries carried less than 50 per cent. more, It should be clearly stated that these excess loads are not necessarily, or as a rule, illegal overloads, because light or medium-capacity lorries with adequate tyre equipment can carry far above their rated capacity without exceeding the legal limit for gross weight, axle weight or load per inch of tyre width. Any damage from overloading under such conditions is damage to the vehicle.
The liberalizing of gross-weight restrictions in favour of six-wheeled vehicles has been a recent development in a number of• States. as it is the wheel load rather than the gross weight which determines stress on the road. Furthermore, for light vehiclft well within existing gross-weight limitations, a third axle may greatly increase the safe and economical carrying capacity. That this is generally recognized is indicated by the fact that 8.7 per cent, of the lorries run on six wheels, and of the trailers listed, excluding semi-trailers, 14.3 per cent, had six wheels. • The full trailer is used especially by the regular haulage lines, because the cost of stand-by equipment is relatively low, and almost any lorry has sufficient reserve power to draw one or more trailers where the hauls are not excessive. Many operators use lorry and trailer combinations regularly. The mechanical expense of operating the truck which draws the trailer is apparently not increased in anything like the ratio of the increased load handled.
The use of a special type of two-wheeled trailer seems to be confined almost wholly to the Pacific North-West States. It differs from the semi-trailer in that it is coupled to a regular lorry instead of to a tractor. The load is carried almost entirely on the single axle, as in the case of the camp trailer used with private ears. Two-wheeled trailers are of relatively low capacity, and it is believed that they are already obsolescent. The semi-trailer is valuable where it can be dumped for loading or unloading, while the more expensive power unit is efficiently employed elsewhere. A single tractor unit may provide motive power for au entire group of semi-trailers, keeping constantly at work and moving each in turn.
A few cases were reported where semi-trailers were equipped with two-wheeled dollies in front, the result being a unit equivalent to a full trailer.
One instance was reported in which semi-trailer units were exchanged between two operators of haulage services on joint hauls. The fifth-wheel coupling mechanism on the respective tractor units was identical, and a considerable saving was effected through the avoidance of unloading and reloading.
An Unusual Co-operative Arrangement. •
A furniture remover reports that in shipments to a wighbouring city he was in the habit of coupling one of his full trailers to the 'goods vehicle of another concern which was
scheduled to make the trip nightly. His power equipment was thus saved for local transfer work.
As in Britain, pneumatic tyres are rapidly replacing solids, and the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce reports that only 3.6 per cent, of the total output of lorries in 1930 were equipped with solids. Analysis revealed that 24 per cent, of the lorries and tractor-lorries and 32 per cent. of the trailers reported were still on solids on one or more axles, but it was revealed that of the 652 solid-tyred vehicles, 167 were operated by one firm, mainly in a metropolitan area.
The distances over which the vehicles are being operated gave no clear evidence as to the profitable radius of motor haulage. Regular runs were reported in excess of 500 miles between terminals, and occasional hauls up to 2,500 miles. Indirect information, indicates that a very considerable, amount of long-distance haulage is being done.
Private Cars Carried 1,000 Miles by Road.
Tyres, for example, are being carried by road from Ohio. factories so far as Omaha, St. Paul and New York. Fully assembled private care are being transported on special trailers for distances as great as 1,000 miles from the factory, fish has been carried from Seattle to San Francisco, fruit and vegetables move from the Eastern shore of Maryland to New England, and livestock is hauled 100 miles or more to stockyards in the Middle West. Some of these long hauls have proved unprofitable ; others are continuing successfully, but it is clear that no definite limit can be set for motor haulage.
In the final analysis, it is the rate that an operator can obtain for his work that determines the distance to which he will go. For superior service by lorry, a :shipper will pay only as much in excess of competing transport rates as any advantage of lorry transport may be worth. Between points served by rail or water transport, the profitable Raul by lorry ends where railway or water transport can offer a lower rate after due allowance is made for cartage costs at the shipping point and at the destination, also for other possible advantages of lorry service, such as less rigid packing requirements.
No study. of rates and rate-making for lorry haulage was attempted, but, in general, it may be said that rates are frequently based on rail tariffs where a competitive condition exists, the lorry rates being either slightly higher to cover pick-up and delivery costs, or approximately the same.
By legal restrictions or by choice, the common carrier usually limits his haul and adheres to a definite schedule. He will carry practically any freight offered, but only between points on his regular radius. In certain States he is restricted by regulation to fixed routes, and is not permitted to carry beyond the limits imposed by his franchise or certificate.
On the other hand, the contract carrier will haul "anywhere for hire," although he may undertake to handle only certain classes of commodity. Regulation does not restrict the distance nor confine his operations to fixed routes. One of the questions the "anywhere for hire" operator was asked was: "What was your longest single trip during the past year?" This brought records of trips of 1,200 miles, 2,000 and even 2,500 miles, almost all being with furniture.
The number of operators reporting regular haulage for fixed routes was 182, or 84 per cent. of those interviewed. About half the routes were shorter than 70 miles. The total number of routes reported upon was 562, with an aggregate length of 50,000 miles, and an average length of 88 miles.
Hauling to points not on fixed routes was carried on not only by operators who had no fixed routes, but also by many carriers in addition to their scheduled trips. For 70 independent operators the average normal radius was approximately 119 miles.
The distance a commodity can profitably .be hauled by lorry is, in actual practice, limited by its nature. SuCh freight as wheat, coal, building and road materials, the weight or bulk of which are relatively high compared to the value, require special loading equipment and containers of large capacity, such as railway freight cars or barges, if they are to be hauled long distances at economic rates.
The Conveyance of Perishallle Goods.
Other products, such as household goods, poultry, livestock, perishables, etc., which stiffer from excessive handling, silk and others of relatively low weight or bulk and high value, can be hauled comparatively far at a higher cost. Over the longer hauls, lorries tend to specialize in the " less-than-vehicle-load " business, often giving the equivalent of an express service, although this is not always true, as, for instance, petrol is hauled in tank wagons for 400500 miles over the mountains from Los Angeles to points in Arizona.
Depreciation is calculated by most operators on the basis of an estimated life in years, usually three to six for lorries, although four is so common as to be almost the standard. The fact that the 'U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue has accepted four years as prima facie reasonable for incometax purposes is probably responsible for the general adoption of this 25 per cent. rate. Trailers and semi-trailers are generally estimated at a life 50 to 100 per cent, longer than that of the lorry.
Calculating Operating Costs.
In most instances the operator merely divides the actual cost of the vehicle when acquired, by the estimated life in years, making no allowance for the second-hand value or for additions to capital account through subsequent replacements of major parts or the installation of special equipment. A few concerns depreciate their vehicles on a permile basis.
Wages and salaries assume a proportionately larger part of the gross expenses, owing to the greater number of people other than drivers and mechanics employed for extensive operations. The ratio of this expense to gross expense fluctuates and shows no consistent trend amongst the various groups. A coincidence occurs in the 250,000-dollar-andover group, the ratio of wages and salaries to gross expenses being approximately the same as that of drivers' wages to gross expenses. The matching of each dollar paid for drivers' wages by a dollar outlay for administrative salaries appears indicative of the supervision and clerical detail necessary to the proper functioning of a large haulage concern.
In the 50,000 to 100,000-dollar group, the ratio of drivers' wages to gross expenses is approximately 25 per cent., whilst in the 250,000-dollar-and-over group, the ratio is 17 per cent. The average for all groups is 21 per cent.