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S.O.N.A.P., one of the most important oil-distributing concerns in Portugal,
Page 104
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are still getting good service from a Bedford li-tonner which they started to operate eight years ago. S.A.R.L. are leading distributors of wine and olive oil, which immediately suggests the product for which Portugal is most famous—port wine.
Both old and modern forms of transport are employed to carry the wine from the vineyards of the Douro Valley to Oporto, ox-carts contrasting with British vehicles ranging from small B.M.C. trucks to A.E.C. eight-wheelers.
The B.M.C. trucks are converted L.D.2 vans. Despite an unfavourable harvest in the past two years, B.M.C. commercial-vehicle sales were Ili per cent, greater in 1956 than in the previous year.
Portugal is still a poor country. Most of the people depend for their liveli
hood on agriculture or fishing, and it is for the carriage of the products of these industries that most of the country's lorries are used.
Fish, fruit and vegetables for the markets of Lisbon are moved regularly from Algarve, in the south, by Seddon vehicles.
A graphic indication of the operating conditions found in the countryside is gained from the fact that on one 37-mile •stretch of the route taken by these lorries there are 360 bends. Portugal's substantial sardine trade also provides employment for Seddon, as well as Dennis vehicles.
The carriage of cork, one of the country's principal exports, presents peculiar difficulties for the Seddon and other British lorries engaged in this work. This material is, of course, extremely light in weight, and in order to take full advantage of a vehicle's capacity, the cork is loaded to a height of about 10 ft.
Most of the lorries are in one and two-vehicle fleets. Some 500 Seddons operating in Portugal are owned by more than 300 individuals. There is virtually no market for petrol-engined vehicles, because of the high cost of petrol; before the Suez crisis, petrol cost 5s. 2d. a gallon compared with Is. 11d, a gallon for derv.
Many lorries, including some of Dennis manufacture, are employed on dam-construction work in connection with the hydro-electric power project. The future development of Portugal, and the raising of the living standards of its largely peasant people, depend on this and other less ambitious schemes. When these are achieved, British commercial-vehicle manufacturers are assured of a substantial stake in a bigger market.