"Waldorf Scheme" Crops Up Again
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THE announcement of the new Government scheme for the ccintrol of long-distance haulage has led, in road-transport circles, to a revival of what are known as the Waldorf group and the Waldorf scheme. The suggestion is being made that the new scheme is an adaptation of the latter and there is speculation as to what part the transport concerns which comprise the Waldorf group will play in the Government plan, either collectively or individually.
Before the launching of the Government haulage scheme, which is now being superseded, it was reported that -the Waldorf group had submitted suggestions as to the form the scheme should take, but these did not bear fruit, at any rate not to any substantial extent. According to information given us in certain quarters, the Waldorf group again submitted its proposals after the Minister of War Transport, Lord Leathers, had decided to review the position in view of the numerous "criticisms concerning the operation of the existing scheme.
It is said that, at the last moment, alternative proposals from another quarter were submitted to the Minister, that this delayed the Government's decision, and that certain modifications' were made in consequence. It is suggested, however, that the new scheme now announced is, to a substantial extent, "the Waldorf plan." One description applied to the Government scheme is that it amounts to the Waldorf scheme "camouflaged."
In support of this_ suggestitm, a memorandum which the Waldorf group submitted to the Government in March, 1941, when a Government road haulage Scheme was already mooted, is being quoted.
,This memorandum explained the lines of co-ordination between the activities of the constituent firms in the .Waldorf group, indicated the gronp's policy of expansion by inclusion of additional larger concerns and a number of smaller concerns and offered co-operation by the Waldorf group in the operation of the Government scheme.
What is now being cited as a basic affinity between the Waldorf scheme, as outlined, and the Government's new scheme is the former's provisions for inter-firm co-ordination and the latter's provisions whereby each of the 460 or so units of controlled vehicles will be centred on a concern with the necessary facilities and will have a unit controller who will normally be a member of its staff. Also, the provision for payment, on the basis of a guaranteed profit to haulage undertakings taken over, under the Government's new scheme, is stated to be on lines suggested in the memorandum.
On the other hand, there are provisions in both schemes that do not correspond.
The memorandum reveals that the formation of the Waldorf group was the outcome of discussions which certain of the more important haulage concerns began in 1937, with a view to seeing whether by co-ordination-without any form of financial amalgamation—greater economy and increased efficiency in transport operation could be obtained.