Surcharge "Not Justified," But Delays at Docks Continue
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WHY do some hauliers make a surYY charge of 5s. per ton on cargo from the Potteries to Liverpool and Birkenhead, for shipment to Australia and New Zealand?
This question was raised at a recent meeting of the road transport section of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. It was stated that when this surcharge was imposed there might. have been some justification, because of the delay in clearing export cargo at the docks, but at the present time no such justification existed.
North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce has been invited to comment on the complaint, as it was felt that the surcharge was being imposed by the road hauliers in the Potteries, where the complaint ought to be examined. • At the same time, the road transport section of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce has been investigating a complaint of delays to road vehicles at Merseyside docks. The steamship company blamed the haulier for not bringing consignments in accordance with the actual date on the callingforward notice. Failure on the part of haulage contractors to deliver goods according to timetable, the company said, resulted in queues and congestion.
The section thought that the explanation was unsatisfactory. Whilst technically the carrier in this instance was at fault in bringing forward three consignments on one day—instead of two one day and the third on the next— that did not alter the fact that the vehicle concerned was held up from 9.30 a.m. until 6 p.m.
This delay would have occurred even if only one consignment had been on the vehicle in question and that consignment was brought forward on the day indicated by the steamship company.