Speed and service count
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• Cost is by no means the determining factor in the choice of mode of transport by manufacturing industry, says a survey report published by the Ministry of Transport yesterday (Thursday).
It is based on information collected about the transport arrangements and traffic dispatched during one year by some 720 manufacturing firms.
They were asked to distinguish between modes of transport used for outward dispatch, of goods, by road hauliers, road vehicles operated on own-account, post office, railways, canals and coastal shipping.
Most firms used more than one mode of transport. Comparatively few, including those operating their own transport, were heavily committed to a single mode.
Short-haul traffic was dominated by road vehicles operated on own-account; on hauls over 100 miles vehicles of this type still accounted for one-sixth of all consignments but public road hauliers carried about twice as much.
In addition to the information about all the traffic dispatched, more detailed particulars were obtained on a large sample of con signments.
Firms were asked about the cost of sending consignments by other means. In a vast majority of cases in which a firm used its own vehicles and did not know the cost by an alternative mode, there were special features relating to the consignment that could well have meant there was no feasible alternative to the shipper's own vehicles.
Traders stressed that, in their general, transport requirements, they attached great importance to ready availability and speed of service. It appeared they were often thinking of the repercussions of particular aspects of the transport operation on other steps in their chain of production and distribution.
The inquiry showed that length of haul had a very important bearing on distribution of traffic. Short-haul traffic was generally carried by vehicles operating on own-account with the share of professional operators increasing as the hauls lengthened.
The analysis suggested that length of haul only had a comparative relevance in the choice between road haulier and rail, with rail slightly favoured for very long hauls.
(Transport for Industry—Surnmary Report, HMSO 6s 6d.)