A freeze that pays off
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Christian Salvesen Transport thrives on its sister company's controlled temperature traffic
by lain Sherriff pictures by Dick Ross
THE SALVESEN family left Norway in the early 1840s, crossed the North Sea, landed on the east coast of Scotland and in 1846 began whaling operations with a fleet of vessels out of the River Forth.
Today from well appointed offices close to the south bank of that same river the old family company operates another fleet and in its activities re-crosses the North Sea to Scandinavia. Just to keep the Scandinavian connection going the 1974 fleet comprises mainly Volvo F86 tractive units.
By 1960, Christian Salvesen had had enough of whaling activities and it disposed of its vessels. It had become apparent to the directors that food storage and distribution was a more commercially viable prospect for the latter half of the 20th century and it was less hazardous than battling with the elements in the Arctic Circle for whalemeat.
Between 1960 and 1968, the company built up a chain of cold storage premises and sold the space to a number of substantial customers in the frozen food industry. In time it became apparent that Salvesen's service to its customers was being impaired because of a serious shortage of reliable refrigerated road transport.
Ideally, CS would have owned its own fleet of haulage vehicles for its warehouse customers but, of course, we are talking of the far off days of carriers' licensing, proof of need, objectors and public inquiries., Obtaining a licence was than a costly, protracted and, frequently, a painful business.
By 1968, the serious threat of objections to an application was disappearing with the imminence of the Transport Act, 1968. So the acquision of a haulage company on which to build a haulage operation became an attractive proposition to the likes of CS.
Twelve-vehicle fleet
About 60 miles north of Edinburgh at Blairgowrie in Perthshire, Daniel Stewart, one of Scotland's refrigerated transport pioneers, was operating a successful 12vehicle fleet on domestic and continental work. Christian Salvesen was attracted to Blairgowrie. It acquired Daniel Stewart, not only for its vehicles and its connections but also for the proprietor, Mr D. Stewart, who is now managing director of Christian Salvesen (Transport) Ltd.
That was in Octover 1968. In December the company added the 17-vehicle fleet of Inverdon Transport of Aberdeen and in April 1969 John McKay Transport of Montrose was added to the fleet bringing the total to 38 maximum capacity artics. This year the fleet strength was brought up to 189. The acquisition of a five vehicle Belgian company, NV Treta of Antwerp took Salvesen into the heavy vehicle league. Its Belgian company operates four 42 ton Volvo F88 tractive units with 4 12 meter Heiwo Polyester refrigerated containers which can operate at -300 centigrade.
More than 90 per cent of the Salvesen vehicles are refrigerated and, as each new company is acquired, the vehicles are converted from general haulage to "reefers".
Little has been heard of Christian Salvesen during the six years in which its transport activities have been developing. Yet the red, white and blue livery of the vehicles is a fairly common sight on the motorway network because the bulk of the traffic to date has been domestic with only 20 of the vehicles employed on Continental operations.
Just as Salvesen believed that it had to own transport to provide a proper service to its warehousing customers, so does it believe that all Continental traffic must be accompanied if the customer is to have the service that the company guarantees. So CS vehicles travelling in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, are all manned by drivers who hail mainly from the East of Scotland.
CS vehicles operating within Britain are located as far north as Inverness and as far south as Aylesford in Kent. At Aberdeen, Fraserburgh, Blairgowrie and Hawick, the company operates pure haulage units, but at Lowestoft, Grimsby, Droitwich, Easton, near Grantham, and Aylesford, the activities combine cold storage and transport. In March 1974, a new transport and cold storage depot was opened at the old MGM film studios at Elstree and this is the headquarters for Salvesen's Continental operation
Traffic potential
There are few haulage operators who would not give a great deal for the traffic potential that Salvesen's cold storage warehousing holds. The haulage fleet carries 3000 tons of frozen food weekly, but the Easton cold store handles 50.000 tons of frozen and chilled food and figures like 3500 tons of sliced beans, 6000 tons of peas, and 20,000 tons of frozen chips roll off the tongue (if you'll pardon the expression) with as much ease as others might mention 10 tons of san and ballast.
As storage space increases so also does tt transport customer potential, althoug Salvesen does not make it a condition on warehousing contract that its vehicles mu be used either on trunk haul or on loc distribution.
The frozen food industry is a growth ar and, consequently, associated services refrigerated transport and warehousing a also. For this reason, Salvesen's lat( developments are dual purpose depots.
In a two-function operation it is, occasion, very difficult to identify wl controls what. Salvesen has solved the pro lem by appointing a transport manager an cold store manager. The transport manaf is responsible to the managing director I all transport movements and for the over operation of his fleet. Only in matters distribution from the cold store does he hz a esponsibility to the cold store manag the arrangements work very well.
There is no trace of acrimony or industr strife in Salvesen Transport's six ye history. Possibly because the company 1 been able to employ from the outset modt management techniques which have led the best employer! employee relationshi have yet encountered. The organisation the 220-odd employees is almost identica that which Daniel Stewart used for his vehicle fleet. The office staff at the hi office in East Fettes Lane, Edinburgh. en conditions superior to most transport st in the UK. In a well appointed well-lit well-ventilated open plan office, they w in an almost cathedral-like sue with the most up to date office equipment.
It is here that operating, accounting and maintenance records are scrutinized. Each month all of the 10 depots make their operating, financial and maintenance returns.
These are analysed by the appropriate section. If any action is required to rectify anomalies, it is instituted immediately.
Each depot is separately accountable, and should the traffic and finance reports show that a job is producing insufficient return on capital, the depot manager is advised immediately to have the rate adjusted.
Records analysis
If the maintenance and finance reports indicate that the costs of any vehicle are above the standards set an immediate inquiry is put in hand. This could indicate that the vehicle is either being misused, mishandled or is the "rogue elephant" of the fleet. The value of this type of record analysis is possibly best illustrated by the company's decision to standardise for maximum capacity artics on Volvo F86s. The lighter end of the fleet comprises of Leyland Albion Clydesdales operating at 16 Ton gvw and 24 Ton gvw.
The first choice had been for a mixed fleet of F88s and F86s. A comparison of the operating and financial records showed a greater financial return from the F86s. This led to further investigation, which showed that the 25 cwt higher unladen weight of the F88 (designed for 52 tons gtw) was, as a five per cent weight penalty on the vehicle's carrying capacity, causing revenue losses at the UK's 32-ton gtw limit. On a 32-ton machine the loss represents around £20 per week. In addition the capital cost of the F88 was £1000 greater than the F86.
Office staff capacity for this worthwhile activity has been gained from streamlining other office activities. For example, drivers and maintenance staff, as well as office staff, are paid by bank transfer. The drivers are paid weekly, the mechanics and office staff are paid monthly.
All the staff enjoy the benefits of life assurance, the drivers participate in a non-contributory pension scheme, the mechanics and office staff are in a contributory pension scheme.
Because of centralised control at Edinburgh maintenance staffs do not work under constant supervision. Under the fleet engineer there are two area engineers, one responsible for the Scottish area, one for England. The maintenance system is simple and common to each depot, so that a man moving from one area to another does not require a teach-in period.
The engineer makes regular calls at each depot keeping in touch with the men and their problems. In this way, he believes that nothing ever reaches crisis level on the maintenance side and certainly the words crisis and panic seem as far removed from Salvesen vocabulary as anything one might imagine.
Monthly returns
Because they make monthly returns, there is less need for depot managers to become involved in costly and time consuming head office meetings and so Daniel Stewart has them along to Edinburgh only twice a year, although he always finds time to call on depots should the need arise.
His philosophy is that if the right man is chosen for the job, then strict control and daily supervision are absolutely unnecessary.
Daniel Stewart described Salvesen to me as "The longest meat haulier in Scotland". The blend of the adventurous Nordic spirit and the pioneering trait in the Scottish character looks like taking Salvesen well beyond the boundaries of the Common Market and Scandinavian countries. However, just as its first five years of growth took place unaccompanied by the customary "public announcements" so is Daniel Stewart observing a discreet silence on the company's development beyond the spring of next year.