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Wine• is a growing business

2nd February 1973
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Page 60, 2nd February 1973 — Wine• is a growing business
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Bulk wine transporters find traffic is increasing as we consume more of the produce of Europe

by lain Sherriff

BISHOP'S STORTFORD, in Hertfordshire, with its population of 22,000, is not the most likely place to find a 23-tanker vehicle fleet, an international coach operator and the headquarters of a fuel company all in the same premises. However, Biss Brothers were bus operators back in 1919. In the early fifties they opened a service station, this in turn led them into oil distribution with tankers in 1967 and since January 1972 they have been in the bulk wine transporting business.

The Biss Brothers tank fleet comprises five rigids and 15 artics on bulk distribution of fuel, oil and chdmicals, and three artics on bulk wine distribution.

In such a well-organized outfit it would seem natural that there should be standardization of vehicle makes in operation. This i not so. The fleet comprises AECs, Atkinsons, Fodens and Volvos. The semi-trailers are Crane Fruehauf and Hands Neway and the tanks are Crane Fruehauf and Gloster Saro. With this mixed fleet, maintenanca and repair problems are greater then they might be. However, it is not through choice that Biss Brothers have not yet standardized. "The bulk tanker business developed at such a rate," Bill Varney, the general manager, told me, "that we did not get the opportunity to settle for one make. We had to take what was available when we required it." Mr Varney said that the company is now examining the situation with standardization in mind.

2iirn gallons of wine

The extent of the growth can be judged from the 1973 estimates. Last year the company moved 2+ million gallons of wine; this will increase by 50 per cent this year and the company anticipates that the traffic will develop over the next few years at a growth rate of not less than 25 per cent annually.

Most of the wine comes from Cyprus, Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain and France by sea and is shipped into Shoreham on Sea, Sussex; Sheerness, Kent; and West India Docks, in London. Cotrali Ltd organizes the shipments and advises Biss Brothers when the vehicles will be required at the dockside. The whole operation is controlled by two factors: the ability of the port authority to accept the vessels and the ability of the bottling plants to accept the wine. The in-between man — the haulier — has to be able to adjust his running schedules to meet the requirements of the other two.

After the vehicles have removed the quantity of wine required by the bottlers, the balance is pumped into dockside storage tanks. This is later moved to the bottling plants as required. "This gives us continuity," said Bill Girling, the commercial manager. "It means that with proper planning our vehicles are no standing idle." On the odd days be tween shipments when the win traffic has been exhausted, Cotral engages the vehicles to run sherr into the Bass Charrington bottlin plant at Bow in East London. Never theless, most of the tankers' traffi is wine.

Each ship contains 380,00+ gallons, the equivalent of 76 load by road tankers, so that a grea deal of the sea traffic goes to docksid storage. The eventual delivery point for the bulk wine are scattere between London and Glasgow, an delivery costs even to the farthe! point are at most 5p per gallor In retail terms this amounts to transport charge for bulk delivery c lp per bottle which would appear t lend weight to those who argue tlu .ansport charges for bulk haulage re extremely low.

This is not because bulk costs are wit; they are certainly not at Biss rothers where drivers have a basic 'age of between £45 and £50 per tek and in addition enjoy fringe nefits. Nor is servicing or main:nance neglected — vehicles are [spected once each week when the il is changed and they have a major ock once a month.

Biss Brothers have opted for ecalemit's automatic chassis ibrication system. "It means that le vehicles are being serviced as they re operating," said Bill Varney, "and I our type of work damage to the 7stem is unlikely. In any event," he ent on, "if there was any damage ccurring it would be discovered at the eekly service if not before."

To keep their costs within due Dunds Biss Brothers have had to reamline the system and at the same me keep a weather eye on false :onomies. The administration staff )mprises the managing director of te company, Roger Biss, Bill Varney, ill Girling, one male clerk and four rls. The staff is responsible for the 'ministration and operation of )aches, lorries and tankers.

ack-loads

The vehicles, where possible, and is is in more than 90 per cent of te cases, are back-loaded, thus :clueing costly "dead" mileage to an molute minimum.

Whereas back-loading general tulage vehicles normally presents tle difficulty, bulk wine tankers are .itable only for carrying edible

-oducts. This is traffic which has be searched out and won in the ce of keen competition. And here .ere is a lesson for the would-be ilk haulier. Although wine carrying a growing market, it is a traffic hich demands almost personal tention by all concerned.

An example of this personalized rvice is Bill Girling's contact with s customers. After serving 15 years Pickfords Tank Haulage, Bill has wide field of contacts with whom he is on first-name terms. He has studied their requirements in detail and these details are passed on to drivers before they leave with a new consignment.

This arrangement is not as simple as it sounds. The Biss Brothers tank fleet operates 19 hours a day, six days a week. The first shift goes on at 5 am• and changes at 1 pm. So that when a new customer's load is leaving on the early shift Bill Girling has to be briefing the driver before 5 o'clock in the morning. He can seldom talk to the drivers at the end of the preceding shift since he is only accepting next-day orders during the late afternoon.

Double shifting

Double shifting the vehicles is another obvious sensible economy. This maximizes the productivity of expensive items of plant. Vehicles are kept for two and a half years and in that time they cover 250,000 miles, and are then sold. "This is before we encounter break-downs on the road," said Bill Varney. "As you can appreciate, this is a valuable and easily disposed of traffic and we cannot risk it being exposed to the possibility of hijacking."

A tank of Cyprus wine can cost £8000, Spanish wine up to £20,000, but according to Bill Varney were there no security arrangements the load could disappear within minutes.

In addition to very heavy insurance for goods in transit — more than twice that payable on general goods — Biss Brothers have made other arrangements. All vehicles are customs sealed whether or not the duty has been paid. They should, therefore, arrive at the customer's premises with the seal unbroken. They are kept in a secure park at the Bishop's Stortford garage when they are not on the road or in the workshop. "No other vehicles are allowed in the security park," said Bill Varney, "not even Roger Biss's car."

And finally drivers are all recruited from an area within a 15mile radius of Bishop's Stortford; they are all known to the management before their applications are considered and are thoroughly screened and vetted before they are engaged.

Wine-carrying tankers are all customs approved. Their official title is "Approved Tank Wagon". In the same way as TIR tilt trailers have to receive official Customs and Excise approval before going into service, so also has any road tanker which can be carrying imported excisable goods.

Ultrasonic wash

While petroleum spirit is gravity discharged and lubricating oils are pumped out by an ancillary engine carried on the vehicle, wine tanks are emptied by suction created by a pump on the customer's premises. This ensures that the product is free from contamination when it leaves the tank. Earh tank has to be inspected and cleaned between loads, and back at Bishop's Stortford they pass through an Ultrasonic wash each night.

The Biss Brothers oil tank fleet of 20 vehicles will continue to expand in the home market where it will continue to deliver fuel, oil and petrol from Thameside installations to retail outlets — Biss Brothers have four of their own. And as the oilfired central heating business expands so will the demand for tankers to deliver oil to schools, government departments and industrial and commercial installations. But it appears that the greatest growth area is the wine traffic.

Utilizing the experience in international general haulage and refrigerated transport together with that gained in the international coach field, Biss Brothers are now preparing to invade the vineyards of France, Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia, and this will be a new type of wine traffic for them — a high quality product direct from the vineyard to the bottling plant.

And still on the theme of costs, Bill Varney estimates that even from the most southerly Yugoslavian vineyard to the most northerly British bottling plant the bulk cost will be less than 3p per bottle, even for the most expensive wine. They are now considering membership of the Association Liquides Alimentaires, a European organization for similartype operators across the Channel which guarantees that its members are reputable, responsible and dependable wine transporters.

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Locations: Glasgow, London, Sea

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