Will you be one of the thirty?
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continued from page 52
the group should be able to handle additional traffic with the same vehicles simply by utilising the spare capacity which is built into any fleet.
The advantages enjoyed by the smaller group still ought to be enjoyed by the enlarged group. It should be possible to negotiate better purchasing terms, bigger discounts and, at the same time, reduce the stock holding. As premises are shared, so does more space become available for rental as storage, and, according to Mr Dillon, there will not be enough storage space to meet demands in Britain in the foreseeable future.
Renwicks' development has gone far beyond anything yet suggested here, but Mr Dillon emphasises that planning must be controlled. The tactics are to advance and consolidate and repeat the process without over-stretching resources.
Nevertheless, an efficient operator is almost guaranteed to receive offers of traffic which he has not been in the habit of handling. The temptation is that he will venture into the unknown with quite disastrous effects on the growing group. Unless a group is equipped or can equip through acquisition, it should not attempt any new venture. The days of speculative management are over.
One almost natural development for hauliers today is in shipping and forwarding. Renwicks have a shipping and forwarding company, Morley Ball, which has premises at or adjacent to the group's transport premises in 10 locations. Because they use Renwicks' c & d vehicles and trunking facilities to and from. the ports, Morley Bail can claim to offer a comprehensive freight-forwarding, shipping and distribution service, catering for both import and export traffic.
Natural addition
A shipping and forwarding activity is a natural addition to any haulage group engaged on long-distance Continental transport, and there is no reason why the two activities should not be carried out by the same group. The shipper has the traffic, the haulier has the vehicles, and there is nothing unethical or immoral in marrying the activities. In fact it is a highly efficient way of moving goods across continents. It already works well in Germany, and there is no reason why it cannot work equally well here for both large groups like Renwicks or small groups with less than 100 vehicles.
A shipping and forwarding agent on the board of a freight group is a more sound, busi ness-like arrangement than a tenuous link between the traffic clerk and the shipping clerk.
Having once loaded trailers for the Continent the question arises whether or not they should be shipped as accompanied or unaccompanied traffic. To some extent this is solved by the shortage of permits for France and Germany, but the establishment of a unit in Holland overcomes the permit problem and Renwicks have done just that. A Renwick company, Eurolink BV of Flushing, picks up unaccompanied trailers with one of its tractive units for delivery to any point in Europe. The Dutch office arranges back loads to the UK, which are also sent unaccompanied and