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More Business for Specialists
Page 92
Page 95
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Farmers Offer for Transport Over 50m. Tons of Goods a Year, But Hauliers Must Provide Suitable Facilities if They Are to Increase Their Share of This Amount
DESPITE the oft-repeated statement that agriculture is the country's largest industry, post-war changes, particularly in marketing and distribution, have resulted in corresponding changes in the demands for the services of the professional haulier. Because the industry is so widespread and yet often specialized on particular products in local areas, it is seldom, if ever, that one haulier handles all types of agricultural commodity. Although almost as familiar with local products as the farmer himself, he often has little knowledge of movements of produce of other areas.
Whilst some types of traffic—for example, livestock and perishable loads—may not permit balanced loading, there may well be opportunities of back-loading if wide knowledge is first obtained.
Agriculture offers over 50m. tons of traffic a year. Whilst a proportion of this will go by either the farmer's own vehicles or by rail, a large part remains to be carried by the haulier. As an indication of the widespread nature .of this traffic, the following figures are given for 'the estimated production last year: wheat, rye and barley, 8.03m. tons; oats and mixed grain, 5.41m. tons; potatoes. 5.7m. tons; and sugar-beet a further 4.51m. tons. In addition to livestock, milk, eggs, meat, wool and horticulture all make heavy demands on transport services, invariably with the emphasis on urgency.
• Despite already large changes, it is generally agreed that British agriculture can and must be expanded. Inevitably this must mean more business for transport operators.
Limiting Factors
• Two factors are, however, limiting the amount of .traffic already passing to the haulier and this trend may increase in the future. As recently announced in the provincial Press, British, Railways are now offering to growers and merchants reduced rates for 5-, 6-, 8and 10-ton truck-loads of new potatoes from Cornwall and Pembroke, with. the promise of a fast overnight service to market. Whilst admittedly this is only an isolated example, it may be a straw in the wind as to the railways' intention, when full modernization is achieved. to offer this service to the whole range of agricultural products.
The other factor concerns ancAlary operation; by which I refer, to vehicles operated legally, as opposed to the abuse of the "farmer's neighbour" principle. The carriage b a farmer of his own produce in his own _vehicle is .a practice as old as agriculture itself. The post-war expansion of agricultural co-operative organizations has greatly augmented the number of ancillary vehicles used in the industry.
n48 As an indication of the size of the movement the gross turnover of these societies already exceeds £.100m. a year. They are organized on both functionary and geographical bases • and invariably have their own fleets of vehicles to give service to their members. For example, small vehicles or vans may be employed collecting from farm or market garden and delivering to the society's own warehouse. After 'possible processing, grading and packing the produce will be reloaded on to the society's own trunk vehicles for over-night deliveries to market. _ .
For the haulier this means not only the loss of potential traffic: when such customers require outside assistance they will already be well acquainted with vehicle operating costs.
Problem for Hauliers • Under these conditions, agricultural societies—or individual members—can be expected to be, hard bargainers over haulage rates. Nevertheless, if the farmer is able. to get better" serVice from other sources than from his own society he will not waste
time and effort in competing, It therefore, up to the haulier —as a specialist—to make sure that he can operate more cheaply, with equal service, than either co-operative societies or individual farmers, to both. of whom ,agriculture is their prime concern. . . .
Even though traffic may be abstracted by such organizations, they can and should provide secondary benefit to the haulier. This is because one of their main functions is to ensure regular and methodical supplies to the various markets based on an efficient system of market intelligence. Whilst nearly all agricultural products are subject to wide fluctuation in supply' and demand; because of both weather and seasonal needs, such variations are now being reduced to the minimum. Coupled with this endeavour to even out seasonal peaks, technical developments, such as refrigeration, grain drying, dehydration and gas packing, are similarly reducing traffic peaks by
prolonging the period over which transport is required. ' . At the same time, however, the high standard of ,post-war living has resulted in the hOusewife having, a wider choice of fresh produce, with the result that it is now distributed wider afield from the source of supply.'
Government policy has had a marked effect on farming, For exaMple, in 1951 1.78M.-tons of barley were harvested. Last year the figure was 2.59m. tons. This increase of more than lm. tons is largely accounted for by the Government's determination that the country shall be less dependent upon.imported (Continued on page 739) .
feeding stuffs. On balance, this should probably result in increased business to the haulier, as the home-grown substitute should be largely road-borne.
The increased mechanization of farms is similarly providing new traffics. In addition to the delivery of machinery from factory to farms, fuel supplies have to be maintained. Moreover, because the small farmer cannot afford• complete mechanization, hiring of equipment has reached large proportions.
Fair Margio Because of the high standard of service both regards handling and delivery times, road haulage is in a favourable position to meet the transport requirements of livestock sales and agricultural shows: Even for road haulage the deniands of shows are so exacting that a fair margin of profit may not result unless charges have been based on past experience. Such events, however, provide a ready-made opportunity for the haulier to make personal contact with-both regular and potential customers and can thus be of real ultimate value,
One of the many Government-sponsored schemes to assist agriculture is the granting of lime subsidies. Although this began in 1937, much remains to be done if crops and grassland are eventually to receive the quantity of lime per acre which official estimates give as the minimum requirement. In 1956, the tonnage delivered in one area, for example, was less than a quarter of the minimum. Large increases in this •class of agricultural haulage must be expected if the Government of the day are determined that the legacy of past deficiency should be made up.
Such work would often consist of haulage by flat lorry from limestone quarry to farm site, where the lime is transferred to a second vehicle for spreading. Alternatively, if the lead were sufficiently short, the spreader might deliver direct from the quarry. Many farms, however, may be some distance from a quarry and it is not unusual for deliveries to be made over a 100-mile radius and, as a result, at least half the tonnage may be delivered in standard vehicles before being transhipped to the spreader.
As with much agricultural work, lime spreading is seasonal and the busiest time for the. haulier would be in the early spring and the autumn. Unfortunately, wet weather causes serious hold-ups. Not only is' the farmer unable to accept delivery, but because of the chemical properties of the load, it is impracticable to switch vehicles at short notice to other traffics without careful cleansing. There may be no immediate economic solution of this problem of refused loads of lime owing to wet weather and due allowance must be made for this factor in subsequent costings.
6-tonner Favoured
Because of the limited access to many farm delivery points, a 6-ton platform vehicle is often used and I propose to calculate the cost of operating one over a 30-mile lead.
With an unladen weight in the 21-3-ton category, the weekly standing cost of licences would be 14s. Wages are estimated to cost £9 3s., with rent and rates at a nominal 10s. Insurance will be reckoned at 14s. per week, whilst interest would add a further £1 4s. per week, calculated at 3 per cent, on the initial cost of £2,000 for this oil-engined vehicle. Total standing costs are, therefore, £12 5s. per week.
The first item of running costs—fuel—is calculated at 2.67d. per mile on the basis of a consumption rate of 18 m.p.g. Lubri cants are assessed at 0.25d. per mile and tyres at 1.44d per milt on an estimated life of 30,000. Maintenance is reckoned to cost 2d. per mile where the vehicle mileage life is 100,000, whilst depreciation adds a further 3.89d. per mile. This is derived from an initial cost of £2,000, with a deduction of £180 for the initial set of tyres and £200 for the ultimate residual value, leaving a balance of £1,620.
To determine the standing charge per hour I will assume an establishment cost per week of £5, which, when added to the weekly standing cost, gives a total of £17 5s. Because of the spasmodic nature of the work, a 25 per cent, margin will be added to cover adverse contingencies, giving a total standing charge per week of £21 Us., or 95. 10d. per hour. when 44 hours are worked. Adding a similar margin to the running costs gives a charge of 12.8 Id.--say, Is, Id.—per mile.
To compute the time charge for a 30-mile lead, it is firsi necessary to assess both the travelling and terminal times. Because of both the human element and possible terminal congestion, it would be over-optimistic to expect a maximum average speed of, say, 20 m.p.h. throughout. The first mile will be assumed to be covered at 5 m.p.h., the second at
10 m.p.h., the next eight miles at 15 m.p.h. and the remainder at 20 m.p.h.
The total time taken would consist of 12 minutes for the first mile, six minutes for the second mile, 32 minutes for the next eight miles and an hour for the remaining 20 miles, making a total of 1 hour 50 minutes for the single trip and 3 hours 40 minutes for the double journey.
Estimation of terminal time must obviously be arbitrary, but bearing in mind both the loading and unloading of a 6-ton platform lorry are involved, allowance of an hour at each end would not be excessive. 'The total time taken would, therefore, be 5 hours 40 minutes which at 9s. 10d. per hour amounts to £2 15s. 9d. As the mileage charge would be £3 5s., resulting from a return trip of 60 miles at ls_ Id. per mile, the total charge for the trip would be £6 Os. 9d. for the 6-ton load, or 11 Os. lid, per ton.
Applying the same method to a 60-mile lead, travelling time would then amount to 6 hours 40 minutes, whilst terminal time would remain at 2 hours, making a total of 8 hours 40 minutes, giving a time charge of £4 5s. 3d. The mileage charge would, of course, be double the previous amount—f 6 10s. The total of £9 15s. 3d. would give a rate per ton of £1 12s. 10d.