Bigger and Better
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WITH artificial impediments removed, the road haulage industry can now follow its natural course of development. It may well be that in average fleet strength of road haulage businesses will be a little larger than id—gm-124st. Amalgamation is a natural tendency and so long as it does not create near-monopolies, little exception can be taken to it.
The industry will always remain one of predominantly small operators, whose safety will be assured by efficient personal service to the customer. There is an illusion that small hauliers are an easy prey of big operators, and eke out a meagre living. In fact, some of them can show gross earnings per vehicle that are the envy of many bigger concerns. Their overheads are low, and by giving close personal attention to the business, they are able to work their vehicles to the maximum.
There is, however, a need for some large haulage undertakings. By their very nature they can provide young men with greater opportunities for advancement than can the small haulier. They can attract the right kind of recruit, who will be the executive of tomorrow, and they can afford him proper training facilities under dongenial conditions. There is already in existence a private-enterprise group under whose beneficent aegis some of the most efficient road haulage undertakings in the country are assembled. Each company has a large measure of autonomy and, indeed, probably few people know that its share capital is owned by a large parent organization.
This kind of trend is healthy. It creates confidence among investors and assures the constituent companies of adequate resources for development. It increases the stature of the industry without depriving the small man of his rightful place.
• There seems now to be less fear of big business among hauliers than existed in the past. It is perhaps significant that at the Road Haulage Association's conference, last week, not one derogatory word about British Road Services was uttered. B.R.S. have come to be accepted as an integral part of the industry, but it is good that they should have powerful free-enterprise competitors who are able to engage in technical and operational research on a scale comparable with that of the State road haulage undertaking, for the ultimate benefit of all hauliers.
Interworking—an old practice that is happily being revived after a virtual lapse of some years—will enable small hauliers to share experience as well as`revenue, and permit them to handle large blocks of traffic. Whether it is created financially or co-operatively the big unit has many advantages so long as it does not become unwieldy and impersonal.