Road Transport the Cotton In Arm of [ndustry
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By Ashley Taylor,
A.M.I.R.T.E.
DURING-processing and manufacture, cotton may have to be moved from point to point as many as 10 times. Transfer costs must, therefore, form a substantial part of the final price of the product when it reaches the consumer.
Because of the flexibility demanded in transport and the shortness of many hauls, motor vehicles have, during the past quarter of a century, done a high proportion of transport work required by the cotton industry. Even if the total volume of cotton handled has fallen heavily since earlier in the century, the trade is still large. In the year ended July 31 last, the United Kingdom imported about 2m. bales of raw cotton, there being four or five bales (the weight varies somewhat) to the ton.
With an industry as vast as that devoted to textiles in general, and cotton in particular, it is more than usually unwise to generalize. When I refer to certain numbers or movements required between the time when the raw material first arrives in this country and the retail sale of the finished product, I do not overlook the existence in certain large organizations of " vertical " operation.
An Umbrella Industry The cotton industry in reality covers several separate trades, the organization of manufacture being largely "horizontal." With each process or series of processes, the product tends to be moved from place to place, this system often applying as much to consolidated undertakings as to those which are sectional, because, although the goods may be manufactured throughout under one control, the various plants are frequently separated and lengthy journeys, usually by road, are often necessary.
Raw cotton is received at the ports of Liverpool and Manchester—roughly in the proportions two-thirds to one-third—from the United States, Egypt, the Sudan, Brazil, Argentina and India, the bales varying in weight from about 400 lb. to about 720 lb. After collection and cleaning at the point of origin, the Cotton has been pressed into bales, which are covered with jute and bound with strip steel.
In this state it makes its journey to Britain where the first movement is the transfer from port to the spinners. Egyptian cotton for fine yarns goes largely to the Bolton area and the American cotton, for coarse spinning to the Oldham district. Doubling may be done in the same mill . or elsewhere.
At this stage, some yarn will go through the necessary 'movements for export, but, in the main, it will be transferred to the weaving mills in the East Lancashire area— Burnley, Nelson, Accrington and Blackburn—there to be woven into " grey " (or natural-coloured) cloth. Other types of yarn may be sent to Scotland or Kidderminster for the manufacture of carpets, to the hosiery trades which largely work in the Midlands, or for the production of sewing cottons in Scotland and elsewhere.
The cloth woven in East Lancashire may find its way back in the " grey " state to the Manchester warehouses or may go forward for bleaching, dyeing, finishing or printing. These processes, again, are usually performed away from
the weaving districts and often on the Pennine moors, having been started there at a time when the finishing mills depended entirely upon the water supplies obtained from Pennine streams.
From the finishers, export goods find their way to the packers, whilst those for the home market are forwarded to the warehouse, whence there is a further movement to the making-up plants.
Yet more movements, of course, occur from the makerup to the wholesaler and from the wholesaler to retailer.
How Labour is Spread To give some idea of the way in which the various functions are divided between districts and of the extensive need for transport, it will be best to quote some approximate figures to show the numbers engaged in spinning and doubling, weaving, and finishing in the various principal manufacturing areas.
In Bolton, some 23,500 people are engaged in spinning and doubling, 8,500 in weaving, 3,500 in finishing; in Oldham the comparative figures are 28,000, 2,500 and 1,700, and in Rochdale, 16,000, 4,000 and 1,500. Manchester, the great focal point of the cotton merchants, has 7,000 operatives engaged in spinning, 4,000 in weaving and about 7,000 in finishing. For Ashton-under-Lyne the figures are 12,000, 4,500 and 2,000, for Bury, 6,000, 7,000 and 5,000. Preston has 4,000 spinners, 11,000 weavers and about 1,000 finishers whilst Blackburn has respectively 2,000, over 10,000 and an almost negligible number. • Royton, Stockport and Leigh are largely spinning towns, whereas Nelson, Accrington, Colne, Chorley and Darwen are almost entirely devoted to weaving. What is commonly classed under the general title of the " Lancashire trade" is, of course, carried on in other parts of the country as well. Scotland has about 20,000 people equally divided between the three processes, Northern Ireland about 9,000, largely engaged in weaving, and the Midlands 9,000 operatives roughly equally divided.
The fact that mills, particularly those concerned in the finishing processes, are often in relatively remote situations has always made many of their difficult for the railways to serve. Even before transport assumed anything like its modern form there were regular road scheduled services in Lancashire and that which was run many years ago by the Calico Printers' Association, Ltd., may be cited as an example.
Calico Printers Band Together
Formed at the beginning of the century, the C.P.A. consisted of roughly 80 concerns with numerous establishments employed in dyeing, printing arid finishing cotton goods for home or export, the principal premises being spread over the textile areas in Lancashire,. Derbyshire and Cheshire.
In the early days there was a horse-drawn night service from one of the C.P.A. works at Crawshawbooth, which lies to the south of Burnley, vehicles being loaded after . work had finished and driven through the night to Manchester. There the driver and horses were changed. Deliveries were made during the day, followed by collections in readiness for the return journey. The evening saw the original driver and horses on the road again and the return load was back at the mill before opening time the following morning.
Although chiefly concerned with Yorkshire, the Bradford Dyers' Association Ltd., also operates extensively in Vie Lancashire area. The B.D.A. too, ran long distances with its own vehicles in the days before mechanical road
transport. A typical instance is the B.D.A. Bradford— Manchester route, which involved a 70-mile return journey, and I have been told that this service, run by horses, was instituted solely because road was even then more reliable than rail transport.
Half a Century Ago
As long ago as 1904, the first load of raw cotton was brought out of Liverpool docks by motor road transport. At that time, costs were only a minor problem for, those were the days when cotton was doing well and the sales graph was already pointing towards the dizzy pinnacle of 1920, from which it was to fall into such a sea of misery. In 1904, cloth exports were a little short of 5,600m. linear yds. and by 1913 they were to rise above the 7,000m. yd. mark, or some 4m. miles of cloth..
That was a time when the cotton men had not to worry unduly about seeking new and more economical methods. Prices rocketed after the 1914-18 war and a slump followed. At the time of the General Strike, rail rates for raw cotton from Liverpool to Oldham and Royton were 15s. 8d. and 17s. 2d, respectively. By that time, road transport was really moving and the desperate need to cut costs made the haulier a popular figure in the cotton towns.
By 1928, the Oldham and Royton rail rates had dropped to 7s. 6d. and even that did not hold the traffic, because road haulage offered not only savings, but quicker deliveries and greater convenience. In the early 'thirties, close on three-quarters of the raw cotton coming from Liverpool Docks was being carried by road and nearly four-fifths of the deliveries from Manchester to the spinners went by the same means.
In the second half of the 'thirties, road hauliers were their own worst enemies, for cut rates had reduced many of them to the state when all they gained for their week's c5
work was practice. In April, '1937, the need for action by the operators' organizations was the subject of comment in " The Commercial Motor." Subsequently an approach to the spinners' organizations was made by Mr. W. Farnorth, -now area secretary of the Road Haulage Association at Manchester, to secure stability for specialist cotton hauliers, it being explained that fractional advantages-could be obtained on rates only by some sacrifice in long-term service.
In consequence, an adequate figure was agreed, particular operators became attached to the mills they served and the constant poaching of traffic was largely eliminated. Many changes came to both cotton and road transport as a result of the war, but, despite the stresses of those days, the " nominated-haulier" system remained substantially in operation.
Cotton Commission's Responsibilities Distribution of raw cotton is now in the hands of the Raw Cotton Commission, a body that senior officials of British Road Services are apt to view with a somewhat hurt expression. Until two years ago a charge of 0.12d. per lb. was made for transporting the bales, but carriage is now included in the basic price. The Commission accepts responsibility for delivery by whatever means suit the respective spinners, subject to adjustment where charges vary. For a period this meant that the nominated hauliers continued to serve their particular mills and when certain undertakings were acquired by the Road Haulage Executive, they still carried their own customary traffic.
When increased operating costs necessitated a rise in rates and the R.H.E. put on 7# percent., the local operators found that they were compelled to accept a similar figure, although 10 per cent. had originally been proposed. Time came, more recently, 'when there was a further increase and, whilst the free-enterprise hauliers asked for 71 per cent., the R.H.E. was demanding 10 per cent.
At about this time, many hauliers had lost permits enabling them to work between East Lancashire and Liverpool, and the R.H.E. apparently felt secure in 'refusing to come down to the lower figure. The Commission, however, is insistent upon the right to buy in the most economical market and, working under the C-licence hiring conditions, has transferred traffic to vehicles that had previously run between the docks or dumps and the
spinning mills. A substantial fleet is being operated. Whilst practically the whole of the traffic from the ports lies in the hands of free-enterprise hauliers or is performed under C-hiring allowances, the R.C.C. gives every facility to spinners to send their own vehicles to collect if they wish. A rebate is then allowed. Furthermore, at the discretion of the spinner, loads may be delivered to railway warehouses or may be forwarded by British Road Services. The State road haulage organization is sometimes also used on special occasions when a ship must be cleared within a limited time.
Over the years, road transport has been favourably placed to serve the cotton industry. In former times, the enterprising haulier was frequently able to arrange a series of round trips, running from the port to the spinning area with raw cotton, from the spinners to the weavers with yarn, and from the weavers to the warehouses or finishers with cloth, finally completing a circle by carrying finished materials to port or warehouse.
Current conditions have tended to cramp the style of the man working on these lines and to cause drastic divisions in the series of journeys. However, as the link between spinners and weavers falls within a relatively short radius, independent hauliers are on much firmer ground, their operations continuing largely unfettered in this sphere.
Within the range of finishing operaCons there is a general tendency for materials to travel more by C-licence vehicles. This trend becomes stronger as the fabrics go out for making-up and gradually pass into the hands of the wholesalers.
Cotton has always been an easily handled load for road operators, as platform lorries are entirely suitable for all the early movements. Raw-cotton bales can be loaded on the flat with a minimum wastage of space, whilst, when woven, the yarn may be bundled and laid on the platform. After winding on cops, the yarn is packed in skips or cases, which, again, are an easy load for the .open vehicle, as are the beams on which the yarn is also sent to the weavers.
The "grey" cloth is often carried in folded form. In this event it is usual for a head bar and hoops to be fitted to the body, so that sheets may be quickly and easily secured. The return of empty skips, beams, cones, wrappers and bags in a regular manner is of the utmost importance to the industry and this is another way in which road transport has proved of consistent service to the manufacturers.
By close liaison between the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations and• the Road Haulage Association, good work has been done in setting up approved rates for both initial transit and for package returns. The Yarn Spinners' Association has taken active steps to avoid the duplication of insurance in transit by both spinner and customer, conditions of sale being that if the yarn be transported on the spinners' own vehicle, possession passes when the yarn is handed to the buyer, whereas if the yarn be carried by rail, poszession passes when the yarn is accepted by British Railways In all other instances, legal possession of the goods passes at the time when the yarn is loaded on a vehicle for dispatch.
As the cloth approaches the finished state, greater protection from the elements and from possibility of soiling is obviously necessary.. At this stage, transport is almost invariably by van, many users electing to employ largecapacity designs. With the bigger vehicles, the heavier types of chassis are often favoured, as the weight of a closely packed textile load is great. At loading docks in the central warehouse district of Manchester, space is often severely restricted and, probably for this reason, roller shutters are used in the bodies of many of the more modern vehicles.
Attempts to Reduce Handling
Possibilities of reducing the total amount of transport involved in cotton manufacture have from time to time occupied the attention of the leading authorities. About 15 years ago the Textile Institute had discussions on a suggestion that a bonded warehouse might be set up which would eliminate the need for fabric being sent into Manchester, as is often necessary, for examination by exporters.
Such an establishment would be located in the midst of the cotton manufacturing area and when the material was delivered there, the quality would be checked against sample by an impartial staff, stocks then being held until the warehouse received instructions for direct delivery to either finisher or packer.
Apart from the reduction in movement that would thus be achieved, such a scheme would help to reduce the growing congestion in the centre of Manchester. The idea has been shelved since before the war, but with replanning in the air, this and other suggestions may again see the light of day.
Whilst the future may bring changes, nothing that can at present be visualized is likely to result in any really substantial cut in the quantity of transport required to maintain Lancashire's production of cotton goods at the current level.
Large as the cotton industry is, it is only a component of the textile industry. The processing of wool, and the manufacture of garments and a great variety of other goods from it, are entirely separate activities which call for a great deal of road transport. The wool industry has its own special transport problems and I shall deal With some of these in a later issue of " The Commercial Motor."