Moving paper by road
Page 15
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MAY I use the excellent medium of your correspondence page to raise a subject scarcely ever mentioned? I refer to the traditional methods used to move reels of paper by road.
The great majority is moved on flat trailers with ropes and sheets. (Often in Fleet Street we see no sheets used if the weather is fairl) As these reels weighing half a ton or more are loaded on the round, sometimes two or even three high, and held in place with small wooden chocks, in the event of an accident they present a formidable hazard to other road users as well as to the man in the cab, should they part company with the trailer.
For some years now I have been using a 40ft box van whenever possible instead of a flat trailer for this work. The second layer of reels can be loaded using small bridging boards between the reels. I have found this has many advantages: (1) Reels stay within the box van in case of accident.
(2) Better load protection, hence less damage to paper.
(3) Much quicker turn around because there are no ropes and sheets. (We regularly do two journeys with a box van to one journey with a flat trailer.) (4) Eliminating roping and sheeting is advantageous for the driver, particularly in inclement weather.
(5) Much better company image presented by a smartly turned out box van.
There is, of course, one major disadvantage, and that is that, generally speaking, the docks and some paper mills are not equipped to load a box van as quickly as they can a flat trailer. From the dock workers point of view the flat trailer is easier because a mobile crane can be used to load from overhead and the dock worker is not concerned with the truck drivers job of roping and sheeting. However, the haulier is concerned with the overailtime spent loading which is much greater with a flat trailer because of the painful business of ropes and sheets.
I would be interested to hear the views of experienced hauliers and drivers on this subject, and also the views of our friends in dock management. J. DOWSON, M.I.Mech.E Watch Tower House The Ridgeway London, NW7 1RN