This Question of Rates for San( nd Ballast Haulage
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An Example of Rates Which Seems to Confirm That Those For Short-hauls MUst be Stabilized Locally, and Not Nationally
SCOME days after I had written my last week's article, in the latter part of which I dealt with the case of an operator who could not make a profit from 5s. Bd. per yd. for the haulage of sand and ballast, I read the letter signed 11.W.F. on page 360 of "The Commercial Motor " dated December 17. The writer expressed opinions so closely related to mine that anyone might well be forgiven for concluding that we had either collaborated or that there had been collusion between us, Nothing of the kind had happened: the two contributions were entirely independent.
Again, in looking up my data concerning the rates for the haulage of sand and ballast and allied materials, as a preliminary to writing' this article, I discovered no fewer than six sets of agreed rates, of which no two are alike. Five of them relate to different parts of the country, whilst the sixth is intended to be of country-wide application.
Method Varies in 'Different Areas The six schedules of rates are set out in Table I accompanying this article. It is important to note, as is stated in the footnote, that not all the figures are taken direct from the agreed schedules; some of them are calculated. The reason for that is a custom of the sand and ballast trade, or rather, a difference in custom. In some parts of the country this material is sold by the ton, and in others 'by the yard. Consequently, operators in the ,Northern Area are interested only in rates per ton. In the London Area the yard is the unit, in the Eastern Area both units are used, as also is the case in Devon and Cornwall—one in one part, the other in the rest.
My calculated figures are assessed on the usual assumpAionby no means accurate, incidentally—that 4 yds.
weigh 5 tons. Actually,. in the original letter from (see page 324 of "The Commercial Motor " dated December 3) 4 yds. weigh 5 tons. I have come' 'across cases whe're' shingle, obviously wet, has weighed 71 tons for eyds. Howei7er, 5 tons for 4 yds is the standard usually' accepted, and on that basis My figures stand. /t is not easy to coMpare columns of figures such as those in Table I. I have: therefore, had drawn the diagram shown On the next iiage, in 'which the lines indicate the rates per ton in each of the six schedules.
StudYing the diagram makes it easy to appreciate that
the Colchester and Chelmsford rates are by far the highest, just as those for North Wales are the lowest. There is not a great deal of difference between the other four.. The Air Ministry " Fourpenny Schedule 'S shown by a dotted line as being.different from the others, because it is a national one as distinct from a local one, hardly differs. at all from that of the Eastern Area. That may be regarded as a feather in the cap of one or the other of .those two authorities, depending on the point of view. Mr. Irwin may take the credit, or the Ministry.
7 1 11 4 9 1 7 3 11 B 94 7 5 12 0 9 7 ton or vice versa. from the tonnage tons.
On the -diagram I have, as a: matter of interest, marked the 5s. 6d. per yd: figure, which the aorrespondent A.C.I.S. declared to be insufficient. It is, as can be seen, a better rate than is offered -in any of the six schedules. Before proCeeding tO deal with the schedules in detail,certain remarks relative to each must be noted.
The Colchester, and Chelmsford Schedule Was agreed between the Colchester Sub-area of A.R.O. and the Essex No. 1 District of the Ballast; Sand and Allied Trades Association. It became effective in August, 1942, and was, subsequently, adopted by the Chelmsford Sub-area.
Members of the B.S.A.T:A. are called upon to observe the agreed rate in their dealings with all haulage contractors, whether members of A.R.O. or otherwise, and no lower rates mustbe offered or accepted. All materials are to be hopper loaded at the pit and delivery is to be on a hard road site. Mileage is to be agreed when the 'actual destination is ascertained. • Presumably, in the event of any variation of these conditions, the rates, too, would be altered accordingly. That, however, is not stated in the schedule I have by me.
Chief Condition in the Northern' Area So far as the Northern Area Schedule is conterned, the principal condition is that the Material must be chute or hopper' loaded. The minimum load to which the rates.
apply 5 tons. The rates for the haulage of hardcore, sand and ballast, or tarred materials. They were agreed between quarry owners, Northern Area A.R.O. officials and representatives of the Air Ministry and Ministry of War Transport, applying to journeys from quarries to Air Ministry sites in Northumberland and Durham.
There is no date on the cOpy. I have, and I cannot say just when I made a note of it, except that it was probably early in 1942. It is quite Possible that it is now superseded by the Air Ministry rates, which are also scheduled in Table I.
The Devon:and Cornwall rates are for loadsof 4 to 5. yds., or tons. The material must be loaded from chute, mechanical excavator, or with reasonable :hand assistance of not less 'than two men.There is to be a Minimum addition of Bd.' to the rate per yd., or per ton When the loading iseffected by the driver working alane., i.e., without assistance frcim the quarry owner—eithernechanical or hand.
'There is mention of some rates for work confined to the site, as follow:—for 9d.: for 4 yds., 7s. 6d.; for 5 yds., 8s. 8d. The capacity named is that of the vehicle used and the rate is per hour.
These rates were agreed between the'Devon and Cornwall A.R.O.. and the Air Ministry for the haulage of stone, sand and ballast to airfields and sites in Cornwall. They came into operation in June of last year.
There "are no specific conditions, either as to loading or unloading, on my copy of the North Wales Schedule. That is somewhat curious, as the rates quoted are lower than any. There may, indeed, be a common reason for the absence of conditions and the paucity of the rate, namely, that there is difficulty, in that part of the world, in persuading all the operators to fall in line. Obviously, if a fairly high percentage of the hauliers concerned prefers to negotiate individually with their customers the rest of them are at a disadvantage in coming to a collective agreement.
The agreement was between, on the ohe hand, the North Wales Dry Limestone Association, the North Wales Tarred Macadam Association, and the North Wales Gravel Produters' Association and, on the other hand, the North Western Area -A.R.O. It applies to the haulage of sand. gravel, dry and tarred macadam, stone, pitching, hard core, red shale and the like.
• The Air Ministry Schedule
The Air Ministry agreement was, of course, between the Ministry and the S.J.C. There is a number of conditions, not all of which are germane to the subject of this article. The following are of importance in that connection:— *The schedule applies to all haulage oU sand and ballast to Air Ministry sites, and the rates set out are net to the haulage contractor. Where any Special services are provided for the benefit of haulage contractors, such services are charged for by invoicing specifically for each particular service rendered, and not by deduction or discount from the scheduled rates. The schedule commenced to operate on June 4, 1943.
The " fourpenny schedule," which is the one set out in Table 1, applied to vehicles working within 20 miles (road distance) of their home base. The rates under this agreement are based on running speeds within the limits prescribed by law.
I haVe left the Eastern Area Schedule to the last, para doxically, because I propose to deal with it first, It is set out in full in Table 11, and the schedule shows in detail how the rates have been calculated.
• Assuming that we are dealinab with a 5-ton petrol-engined vehicle, and that we are calculating on the basis of a 4-ton load, then I should set about calculating these rates approximately as follows:—I should take, to-day, 5s. fid. per hour and 10d per mile; these are probably in excess of the rates presumed when the Eastern Area Schedule was set up, because costs have gone up considerably of late.
I note that there is comment at the bottom of Table II to the effect that 40 minutes have been allowed as the basis of the terminal charge. That is the figure which must be used in calculating the amount set out in the second column of Table II, the " terminal charge per yd." At Ss. 6d. per hour 40 minutes represents 44d. As 4 yds. are being carried, then I should allow, not 10d. per yd.
• for terminal charge but 11d.
Combining Time and Mileage
Next, as regards the third column "Travelling per yd.," I have to combine the time and mileage. I must assume an average time for the vehicle to travel the two miles, which it must cover for a one-mile lead. If I take that to be three minutes, that is to say, assuming an average travelling speed of 20 m.p.h., then I have to take six minutes of time at Ss. 6d. per hour, which is 6.6d. To that I must add for two miles at 10d., which is 20d., giving a total of 26.8d. That is 6.65d. per yd. as travelling time.
Having shown the method, I will now revert to the Eastern Area Schedule and assume that the figures in • columns two and three, namely 10d. for terminal charge and 5d. per mile lead for travelling charge are correct. The -next thing to take into consideration is that over extra-short hauls there are disadvantages which increase the time taken, and, therefore, the cost to the haulier. There is, first of all, the fact that over such distances it is impossible to 'make the average speed of 20 m.p.h. Secondly, drivers cannot, in the normal way, carry as many loads per hour 'or per day as seems possible theoretically.
The fourth column, " Short-haul and weightage per yd., ' embodies the figures which allow for those unfavourable conditions. How they do so and what effect the use of these. figures has on the rate, I shall show in the next article.