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Fireworks transport avoids the sparkle
Page 129
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by Johnny Johnson
THIS WEEK'S celebration of the Gunpowder Plot has put bonfire night into the future again for yet another year and brought to an end a peak transport period for the halfdozen or so firms which manufacture fireworks in the United Kingdom. That is not to say that it ends completely the transport requirements of those companies till next year, for the manufacture of traditional bonfire night fireworks is now but a small part of their business.
It is perhaps appropriate that at least one of those companies should be located in Scotland, for the original plot was aimed at a Scotsman, King James I, who on succeeding the English Queen Elizabeth 1, became James VI of England. Until about two years ago, however, Brocks Fireworks Ltd was occupying a factory in Hemel Hempstead, but as the area became more built up it seemed prudent to remove such a controversial manufacturing process to a more remote region.
Now the company has its main factory in South West Scotland and another in East Anglia.
In transport terms, the move to Scotland was against all the accepted tenets of factory location in relation to the area of greatest consumption, for almost all the product is sold in the Midlands and south thereof. Using a fleet of four vehicles on contract hire from Transfleet ,and making use of the available public haulage, Brocks manage to bring the product successfully to market despite having to conform to Home Office regulations as well as the general transport legislation.
For this reason the release of consignments for transport by public hauliers has to be carefully scheduled and controlled.
Consignments of fireworks are offered to hauliers only a day or two before they are due for delivery to the customer depending on the distance that they have to travel. When the consignment is accepted by the carrier, the customer is immediately notified of the date of dispatch and the estimated arrival date and time. He is urged to get in touch with Brocks should the consignment fail to arrive within a reasonable time after the estimated arrival time has elapsed.
Peak time for the fireworks manufacturers is during the months of July, August, September and October. This is when the transport demand is at its highest though there is a constant all-the-year-round requirement.
This is engendered by the supply of pyrotechnics to Government Departments including the Armed Forces, the Police, the Coastguard—and even to farmers to replenish bird scarers.
All this traffic is growing yearly so that Brocks expect the demand for transport to increase while at the same time maintaining a less well defined yearly peak and spreading the load throughout the other months of the year.
On the matter of tachographs, however, the haulier is unlikely to become embroiled in this as a result of carrying Brocks' traffic as the amount would be below that which would call for the vehicles to carry dangerous goods labels and tachographs would, therefore, not be necessary.
Despite the apparent lack of special precautions, it is claimed that there is very little chance of accidental ignition during transit because of the way the fireworks are packed. This seems to be borne out by the absence of incidents involving the company's pro ducts.
Brocks have ceased to make "bangers" and do not put loose fireworks on sale. Because its products are now sold in complete boxes these, packed within a well-wrapped carton, further reduce the possibility of accident.
To be on the safe side, Brocks' drivers and those of the hauliers used are briefed on what to do if their vehicle is involved in an accident.
Other Home Office regulations cover the time during which fireworks and other goods of an explosive nature may be stored in particular premises. This is tightly restricted and usually such products are allowed to rest in the conventional warehouse only overnight.
This means that the collection and delivery functions must be completed within a very limited period unless the premises at which the product is to be retained are licensed for the storage of explosives. Few premises are so licensed.
For security reasons, the vehicles which are being operated currently have no distinguishing livery. Home Office regulations cover the transit of explosives and there are regulations which call for the vehicles to bear dangerous goods labels on the exterior. Discretion is exercised in this matter, however, because it could be argued that this is not in the interest of secure transport. The view is taken that it is prudent not to draw the attention of a potential hijacker to a vehicle which is carrying goods of an explosive nature.
It is doubtful, however, if the same argument can be employed to exempt Brocks' vehicles from the tachograph requirements threatened for January 1 for vehicles carrying dangerous goods.
It would appear that the only precaution taken against premature ignition of the fire works is that the contract hire vehicles are specified with wood lining for the body interior. This ;.s to eliminate the possibility of sparks being struck by friction between a metal body and the wire strapping of the packages.
No such specification applies to the vehicles used by public hauliers. It is, considered that to make a specification of this nature would involve the haulier in acquiring a special vehicle simply for the occasional transport of a few pack ages of fireworks. This would render the transport cost exorb:ilant.
The own-account/public haulier split •is 30 per cent carried by the company fleet and 70 per cent remaining handed to public hauliers. Brocks retain the full-load, long-haul traffic for their own vehicles and the multiple-drop traffic is handled by the hire and reward sector.
The company's own fleet is also involved in a two-way exchange of traffic between its Scottish and East Anglian factories, much of it comprising the raw material of manufacture.
These four contract-hire vehicles are a D Series Ford rigid four-wheeler with an unladen weight below 3 tons to avoid having to employ a driver with an hgv licence. The other three units are Transits.
When the EEC driving licence regulations come into force on January 1 next year, the company's policy about the non-employment of drivers with hgv driving licences will have to be revised. The present Ford D Series unit has a gross weight over 7.5 metric tonnes (7.38 tons) and the driver will probably be able to claim an hgv driving licence on the basis of his present driving experience.
As the expansion of the fleet is contemplated with the increasing business and the possibility of doing more transport with own vehicles, it could be that Brocks will either acquire another of the larger, vehicles or replace the Transits with, say, two D Series units. Either way the fleet capacity will be increased.