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URBAN WAREHOUSING A PARISIAN PATTERN FOR BRITAIN

28th January 1972
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Page 27, 28th January 1972 — URBAN WAREHOUSING A PARISIAN PATTERN FOR BRITAIN
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

3N January 14 I walked the streets of Paris or four-and-a-half hours, searching for a ieavy goods vehicle. (I was not accosted ince times have changed!) In all of that ime the only vehicles I did see were those of bout 5 tons carrying capacity.. My travels aok me up the Champs-Elysees, along both lanks of the Seine, the Rue des Invalides, to ae Gare de l'Est, and the Gare du Nord. I uppose I must have covered about 12 tiles, and not a 32-tonner in sight. In the ast 10 minutes from my office window verlooking the Thames, I have counted lore than 20 heavy artics travelling west long the Embankment.

The Parisians have found an answer to eeping heavy goods vehicles out of the !ntre of their city without the assistance of istrictive legislation. They have established orth and south of Paris, markets, arehousing and transfer terminals, which lve made hgv journeys through the City 3th unnecessary and uneconomic.

The first phase took place some time ago hen the Paris markets were moved to ungis, which is now a vast warehousing implex, close to Orly Airport. The success this venture was quickly recognized

1 developers, finance houses, and commies involved in distribution. They also cognized a need for a similar if not larger implex to the north of Paris, and so

aronor Gare Routiere Nord de Paris was conceived. I visited Garonor last anth. It is 80 per cent complete, and cupies 250 acres of land with 4m sq ft warehousing, and it seems to me that the tole conception has much to teach transrt, warehousing and distribution men in

2 rest of Europe.

Garonor is run by a private company, d does not enjoy either national or local .vernment subsidy; by providing a mplete distribution service from its minal a few miles north of Paris, it is in it serving the public by reducing both sts and congestion.

It has been sited at the apex of a triangle tde up of three roads, the base being the ris perimeter roads; the other two are Ids which develop from the equivalent of

M -Autoroute du Nord. It is nveniently placed for rail siding relopments, and in fact nine miles of ck are being laid inside the complex to

service the warehouses. Five miles to the south is the new inter-continental airport of Roissy-en-France, and Garonor handles the air cargo which it generates. M Rene Rebillaud, chief of services, described Garonor as the perfect international goods handling centre and the largest in Europe.

The functions of Garonor fall into four categories. It provides warehousing and office accommodation for a number of manufacturers in France, among them Chanel the perfume people, Dupont, Esse Standard, Honeywell, Rothschild, Scandecor, General Foods, DAF, and Tuxedo. These manufacturers arrange for the delivery of their products into rented warehouse space which is staffed by Garonor personnel. The documentation, reception, and dispatch of goods is carried out by the Garonor people to the instructions of the person using the warehouse.

Transport block

It offers accommodation to hauliers, for traffic office personnel, and warehousing, and a number of operators are planning to move into the new transport block which is under construction, leaving behind them the less accessible premises in the suburbs of Paris, and bringing them to an area where traffic is readily available, with a resultant reduction in dead running.

There is a large transit area where bulk loads are either broken down or consolidated. When the load is broken, each segment is put into a transfer bay for areas of Paris. Hauliers are then advised that consignments are available or alternatively. Garonor with one of its radio controlled vans, will make the deliveries. The object i5 to ensure that goods do not lie in store I'm more than 72 hours in the transfer building In the same way, the suppliers in Park have goods for the north of France, oi indeed north of Europe, and either arrang( for the goods to be delivered to the transfe: building by their own transport, public haulier, or by asking Garonor': radio-controlled vehicle to make their owt collection. Once again the goods an separated and put into bays for eventua grouping with other part loads, either int( containers, or on to semi-trailers.

Possibly the largest part of the Garono activity is in the TIR field where there is ai inland customs clearance terminal.

I travelled with 16+ tons of general good under TIR carnet. We arrived at Garonor a 7 am and by 9.30 am the load had bee discharged and documented, and the vehicl was reloaded for London. This wa achieved shortly after lunch-time. 'Th important feature of all this is that the drive does not have to be in attendance during th unloading or loading since his vehicle travelling under seal. He can be taking statutory rest period at this time.

Hauliers who operate into Europe wi realize that customs delays at the fin. destination can be more time-consumir than the actual transit time, but the faciliti< at Garonor are such that provided ti journey is properly scheduled, then delm are reduced to a minimum, and 24 hours fi customs clearance is not unusual, althoug Garonor suggests 48 hours may be more practical.

Running schedule Before leaving Britain operators are advised to transmit their running schedule to their Garonor agent, and they have a choice of 150 agents. Since the run from Calais to the Terminal takes about 5+ hours, estimating the time of arrival to within a few minutes presents little difficulty. Consequently, when the consignment arrives a bay is available at the appropriate shed, and therefore British dock-type delays are non-existent. The vehicle moves into position, and after the documents have been handed over, within a few minutes handlers are discharging the cargo. The customs officer has been advised before the outfit leaves the UK of its estimated time of arrival and he is therefore able to programme his work to check the goods almost as soon as they are in the bonded area. His check completed, the customs man releases the goods, Garonor advises the consignee and transport arrangements are put in hand.

The customs office which is located in the terminal — the Paris-Blanc-Mesnil office — completes TIR, documentation for transport between two customs points and TIF, the documentation for clearing international rail transport. This is the only complete inland customs clearance service I know of in Europe.

At the TIR centre adjacent to the ustoms office, there are parking facilities where the driver leaves his vehicle, and is net by an interpreter who takes over the Jocuments and passes the vehicle on to the 3aronor staff who have it customs cleared. 3y June of this year there will be hotel 'acilities available for the drivers, providing ;ingle rooms with bath, full restaurant and )ar facilities, TV lounge, reading and vriting room, and games room. The drivers vil also be able to buy domestic and toilet equirements. There are fuelling facilities, ind a workshop where servicing and vehicle epairs can be carried out while the driver is esting.

The warehousing accommodation rhether occupied by product manufacturers ir hauliers is rented by the square foot, and 11 service charges such as water, electricity nd heating are allocated pro rata. M. ngemann Larsen, an administrative officer t Garonor, told me that the final extension 3r hauliers would be capable of offering ccommodation to all of the interested 'arisian operators and that applications .om British operators for bases would, of purse, be considered.

>ouble handling

There has always been some scepticism bout the viability of transfer terminals ecause of the necessity for double andling, but M Larsen maintains that the )st of double handling is more than offset y the increased speed with which the timate delivery is effected, the reduced )st of communally shared services, the mtralization of traffics ready for grouping, id the availability of agents on the .emises. In addition, he mentioned that the lver's accommodation and repair facilities, plus the documentation handling, were further factors in cost reduction. Although no accurate forecast was given, one official suggested that delivery costs had been reduced by approximately 20 per cent.

There are three methods of charging for the Garonor services. Goods consigned to France from the UK are delivered f.o.b. to Garonor and a handling charge is made on the consignee. If the goods are not uplifted within a specified time, the duration of which varies with the nature of the goods, then a warehousing charge is imposed. A similar system is adopted for goods leaving France, but on this occasion the consignor pays for any handling and excessive terminal delays. A third method is that goods consigned to France which pass through the Garonor warehouse are charged to the British consignor who recoups the amount in his overall charge. In all cases, of course, the charges are made through nominated agents.

Freedom of choice Although Garonor is a private company it was planned for the company by the city district of Paris, and while it provides the widest possible range of services, the management insists that customers have freedom of choice to use either all the services available, or any one part.

There is little doubt that the Garonor principle could be applied in many other centres around the world, and there seems little reason why it cannot be applied on a reduced scale in Britain.

An area somewhere in the region of Watford, Luton or Dunstable, seems ideally located for such a transfer terminal because of its close proximity to the motorway network from the North, the Midlands, and the West. and the fact that already consideration is being given to the extension of Luton Airport. To be as successful as its French counterpart, however, the fruit, fish, and meat markets of London would need to be sited within the complex.

A similar site presents itself in the Coatbridge /Airdrie area of central Scotland which is close to Glasgow, and the motorways linking Glasgow to Edinburgh, the North of Scotland, and London. There is already a container base established at this point, and there seems little reason why similar sites could not be set up close to Manchester and Newcastle on Tyne, where further development of the Team Valley Trading Estate at Gateshead would appear to be a practical proposition. The area around the Severn, with its connecting links to South Wales, Bristol and the West of England, could also support a miniGaronor.

The time is ripe for interested parties to make a detailed study of the French transfer terminal, where the know-how is readily available, The co-operation of businessmen, financiers, developers and local authorities is essential, and they should not be frightened by the immensity of the Garonor scene. It can very easily be scaled down to meet local requirements. This is not only a sound economic proposition, but a very definite aid in the improvement of the environment.


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