Labour plans to nationalize docks
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From our Political Correspondent
A PLAN to bring the docks under public control
at national and regional level was published by the Labour Party last week. It is to be studied by the NEC and the Government as a framework for the next stage in the development of the ports.
The advantages to be gained from public control would include having the right labour in the right place at the right time, timetables for the delivery and collection of cargo, better equipment, quicker turn-round, and power to oblige port users to conform to schedules and to delivery and collection schemes.
The report—of a study group under the chairmanship of Mr. Ian Mikardo—said that British ports all too often acted as bottlenecks in the flow of trade. "One of the largest transport organizations in the country prefers to Contract out of the docks part of its business rather than risk the delays to which its own lorries may be subjected."
And it underlined the words of the chairman of British Transport Docks, who said there was "excessive fragmentation in cargo handling, unco-ordinated transport to and from the ports, a multitude of clearing and forwarding agencies— and the inertia of long established custom".