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NIFC answers Shah's all for help
Page 19
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;tate transport corporation poised for big stake in Iran's vast freight distribution levelopment; spin-off for other British companies Pi CM reporter
k VISIT to Iran last week by top-level National Freight :orporation delegation ould lead to the NFC iolding a vast stake in the ountry's transport, warelousing and distribution ystems.
Before leaving Teheran he delegation, led by NFC hairman Sir Daniel Pettit, igned a contract with the ranian Government to act .s consultant on transport, varehousing and distribuion matters for three years. Ehe value of this contract as not been revealed but Sir 3aniel, announcing the igning in London on vIonday, said there was mmense potential in the teal.
"They are prepared to pay tandsomely for the service," le said. "They do not want idvice, they want assistance. [he Shah asked for help,. tnd help now." After the consultancy phase, the NFC will help to implement the proposals, and thereafter it plans to participate in the operation. Sir Daniel commented: "It opens endless possibilities for the Corporation to employ its expertise and will act as a valuable cushion against the stringent situation at home."
If, to put the plans into operation, it was necessary to put 200 vehicles and drivers into Iran then they could be found from BRS resources. "If we require to put NCL management in to run a distribution service, we might very well do that too."
Heady wine
He added a note of caution, however, when he said: "This is very heady wine and we will not be tempted into overstretching our resources." But he hinted that future NFC management would be drawn from those who had the kind of experience that the Iranian operations would be offering.
Today, Friday, the first consultancy team from NFC will move into the Corporation's new office in Teheran and begin a study on how to speed up the discharge and distribution of Iran's 11/2 million tons of imported cement. This study should be completed in five weeks, when the recommendations will be submitted to the Iranian Ministry of Commerce. It will be followed by similar studies on other commodities including foodstuffs, fertilizers, agricultural produce and containerization.
At the end of these commodity studies, recom mendations will be made tc the Ministry of Commerc, on the methods, machine and manpower required fo their implementation. Si Daniel said that where the: considered that Britisl equipment or personnc were best suited to the task this would be recommended The first five-man con sultancy team includes professional consultan from IDP, which is an NH associate consultanc company. The others are M Peter Kite, markets develor ment manager at BR: Group headquarters, M John Langdon, Midland BRS, Mr Ian Blundel North Western BRS and tw executives from Associate Portland Cemen Manufacturers.
Next week a second stud begins, on behalf of th Iranian Ministry of Tram port, to look at port workin and the group will includ senior personnel from ttBritish Transport Dock Board. Iran, which is as hi as the whole of Wester Europe, has four main por which have been badl bottlenecked for montt with lm tons of freight lyir in ships for up to nine weet before discharge.
The NFC's fee for the fir two studies will be ov) £100,000.
According to a member the delegation, Mr T. R. 1 Bolland, the Irania transport infrastructure inadequate to cope with ti country's increasing trac while management, thou highly skilled, is too thin spread to cover the va